URINE TEST STRIPS - detect blood in urine hematuria

you can buy these in your pharmacy!!

Features & Function

Unique design and well thought-out technology

Combur-Test® strips of Roche Diagnostics are distinguished by a particular test strip design:

The reagent paper and underlying absorbent paper are held in place on a stiff white carrier foil via a fine porous nylon mesh laminated to the foil itself. Sensitive test areas are protected against contact, contamination and abrasion. The mesh enables rapid and uniform penetration of urine into the test area, ensuring uniform color development. The absorbent paper prevents interference by absorbing excess urine. And the long strip handle contributes to safe handling.
The test areas assure good readability against the white background of the carrier foil. The comparison colors printed on the vial label in a special printing procedure allow easy evaluation of test results.
Combur-Test® strips are highly sensitive. There is virtually no interference with vitamin C in the glucose and blood test fields through protection by iodate, even in the presence of high concentrations of ascorbic acid. The long in-use expiry date up to 2 years at room temperature, favors the use of Combur-Test® strips in the medical practice.

All visual Combur-Test® strips at a glance

Name	SG	pH	LEU	NIT	PRO	GLU	KET	UBG	BIL	BLOOD
Combur2 Test® LN			+	+
Combur3 Test®		+			+	+
Combur3 Test® E					+	+				+
Combur4 Test®			+		+	+				+
Combur4 Test® N		+		+	+	+
Combur5 Test®			+	+	+	+				+
Combur5 Test® D		+			+	+	+			+
Combur6 Test®			+	+	+	+		+		+
Combur7 Test®		+	+	+	+	+	+			+
Combur9 Test®		+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Combur10 Test®	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+

Practical detection limit

The detection limit of a test is that concentration, at which the test starts to turn from negative to positive. Whereas the detection limit may vary from urine to urine, the practical detection is defined as that concentration of the analyte, which results in a positive reaction in 90 percent of the examined urines.

Parameter	Reference range	Practical detection limit
Specific Gravity Reference range Physiological range	1.016 - 1.022 1.002 - 1.035	Range: 1.000 - 1.030
pH value First morning urine During the day	5 - 6 4.8 - 7.4	Range: 5 - 9
Leukocytes Reference range Grey zone	< 10 Leu/µl 10 - 20 Leu/µl	10-25 Leu/µl
Nitrite	-	0.05 mg/dl (11 µmol/l)
Protein Albumin	< 2 mg/dl	6 mg/dl
Glucose First morning urine During the day	< 20 mg/dl < 30 mg/dl	40 mg/dl (2.2 mmol/l)
Ketones Acetoacetic acid Acetone	< 5 mg/dl -	5 mg/dl (0.5 mmol/l) 40 mg/dl (7 mmol/l)
Urobilinogen	< 1 mg/dl	0.4 mg/dl (7µmol/l)
Bilirubin	< 0.2 mg/dl	0.5 mg/dl (9µmol/l)
Blood Erythrocytes Hemoglobin	0 - 5 Ery/µl -	5 Ery/µl 0.03 mg/dl Hb

Catalogue numbers Combur-Test® strips for professional use are available from 2 to 10 different parameters. For patient self-testing at home Combur²Test® NG and Combur⁵Test® HC with a convenient package size of 10 strips/vial are available.

Name	Strips	Cat. no.
Combur-5-Test® HC	10	11 896 954 176
Combur2 Test® LN	50	11 896 890 191
Combur3 Test®	50	11 896 814 191 / 11 896 810 56
Combur3 Test® E	50	11 896 857 191
Combur4 Test®	50	11 896 849 252
Combur4 Test® N	50	11 896 822 191
Combur5 Test®	100	11 893 467 255
Combur5 Test® D	50	11 896 873 191
Combur6 Test®	50	11 896 962 257 / 11 896 962 056
Combur7 Test®	100	11 008 552 191
Combur9 Test®	50	04 510 054 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              04 510 054      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              04 510 054      end_of_the_skype_highlighting 056
Combur9 Test®	100	04 510 046 040 / 04 510 054 056
Combur10 Test®	10	11 203 444 171
Combur10 Test®	100	0451 0062 171 / 0451 0089 056

I was assigned to work in Quest Laboratories, department Clinical Chemistry/Biochemisty for the 1st 3 weeks of attachment. The department is almost fully automated except for a few tests like OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test), HbA1c (Glycosylated Haemoblobin) and Drug 5/7. For the first week, my duty is to run HbA1c using the machine. for the second week, i learnt how to test OGTT and Drug 5/7 using testing kits.

HbA1c testing :

EDTA tube is used to test for HbA1C as the whole blood is needed to test for glycoslyated haemoglobin.

Before loading sample into machine (ADVIA 1650 - Bayer) bubbles are removed to prevent the probes from taking in the bubbles. This is because the machine only required 10 microlite and difference in small volume of blood will alter the results.

the sample is then loaded into the machine and results will show in 30 mins time.


Ranges :========================Actions to be taken:
<4.5% =========Low=============Rerun test in 1:41 dilution
4.5% to 8%======Reference Range====Record results
8% to 12%====== Moderate High======Rerun sample in 1:41 dilution
12% to 15%======High============ Reun sample in 1:51 dilution
>15%==========Very high=========Rerun sample in 1:81 dilution

Dilution of the samples during rerun has to be done manually.. eg: in 1:41 dilution, 400 microlite of denatured water and 10 microlite of sample are added and incubate at room temperature for 10 mins. diluted samples will then be loaded into machine for analysis.

Prinicple of HbA1C:
Hba1c is an diagnostic tool to control, check for diabetes.

when glucose levels are persistantly high, glucose will enter RBC and form an irreversible complex with haemoglobin, to form glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C). this form of haemoglobin will remain in RBC until RBC dies. (RBC has a life span of 120 days).

Calculating % of HbA1c in RBC will therefore determine the glocose level that always reside in the blood. In diabetes patient, % of HbA1c is usually high. A normal level of HbA1c will show that diabetes patient has a good control of the disease.


Principle of ADVIA 1650 (Hba1C)

Uses immunoassay method. The machine first uses probe to extract 10 microlite of sample into curvette. 400 microlite of denatured water is then added.

This water causes cell lysis to allow contents in RBC to be exposed and used for experiment (sample will change from red to brown in color).

Latex coated specific antibody is then added into the curvette and this ab will bound to random glucose. An agglutinator is then added and it will bound to Ab to produce scattered light that increase the absorbance.

If there is presence of Hba1c in blood, Hba1c will competes with the agglutinator to bound to Ab and this reduces the amount of agglutinator bound to Ab which in turn reduces the scatted light and absorbance.

The amount of absorbance recorded will reflect the amount of Hba1c.

OGTT test

OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test) tests for the amount of glucose present in urine sample. Usually 3 different urine samples are needed : fasting, 1st hour, 2nd hour. Sometimes, (i dunno why) only fasting and 2nd hour are received but we can still use it to find the results. Combur test kit (dip stick) is used to detemine glucose level.

The process is quite simple: just dip the stick into urine and the colour of the reagent in stip stick will change immediately. there will be different color for different glucose level. However, the results is valid for only 3o seconds so we have to read the results immediately. This is because the reagent will react with the surroundings and change the intensity of the color.