STI HemataSTAT-II^®

Douglas Cortez
Research Technician
U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research
Hemostasis Branch

The HemataSTAT-II^® is a small, light-weight centrifuge/microhematocrit system that provides a rapid and accurate hematocrit determination. A microprocessor ensures proper RPM conditions for the 60 second spin time. The instrument contains a built–in tube reader and an LCD display that guides the operator through the testing procedure. The instrument has many safety features including a lid-locking mechanism and a gasket seal to minimize aerosol exposure to infectious diseases. The Hematastat-II can be used to read plastic and Mylar wrapped capillary tubes which also eliminates the risk of infectious disease transmission by blood via broken glass. The HemataStatII uses the standard 75 mm capillary tubes with an inside diameter of 0.5 or 1.1 mm. The maximum number of 75 mm capillary tubes that the HemataStatII can handle is six.

The HematastatII is a very user friendly instrument. Once the blood sample has been collected and sealed in a capillary tube, the operator places the capillary tube in the centrifuge, closes the lid, and presses start. After the 60 second spin, the operator then takes the capillary tube and places it in the built-in digital tube reader. The instrument will then instruct the operator on the sequence of events required to read the capillary tube. The instrument then does a calculation from the measurements and produces the hematocrit result as a percentage. This result must then be handwritten in a data record.

Over the past 3 years, I have used the HemataStatII in many different hemostasis research projects. All of the projects were done in an operating room setting with the temperature in the room ranging from 18-35ºC. The only problem that I have had with the HemataStatII is that the sample in the capillary tubes, on occasion, will leak through the sealant during the centrifugation process. Of course, this is not the fault of the instrument, but it does cause a problem if you are under a time constraint to get a result and the operator has to take and run another sample. The capillary tube holders in the centrifuge are disposable and do prevent the sample leakage from contaminating other samples inside of the centrifuge.