Flame Photometer and Direct Ion-Selective Electrode on Serum Sodium and Potassium Concentration

The study aimed to compare the Na+ and K+ serum levels of the blood samples using flame photometry and ion-selective electrode methods. The study was conducted using the descriptive and comparative design.   By random sampling, the values of the 180 test samples were extracted from the Chemistry Clinical logbook.  The mean values and paired t-test were used to treat the data gathered. The mean value of Na+ serum of the 180 blood samples using flame photometry and ISE are 136.96 (SD = 6.21) and 138.32 (SD = 6.21) respectively.  The potassium mean values are 3.77 (SD = 0.83) for the flame photometry and 3.84 (SD=0.86) for the ISE.  The t-values resulted to p-values, which are lesser than 0.05, indicating that there is a significant difference between the electrolyte values of both sodium and potassium using the flame photometer and ion-selective electrodes.  The ion-selective electrode outweighs the flame photometer in determining the electrolytes particularly sodium and potassium in serum.  

Keywords: Flame photometer, ion-selective electrode, serum electrolytes