At a glance
| Analyte | Albumin |
|---|---|
| Also called | ALB, Serum albumin |
| Method | Bromocresol green colorimetric |
| Sample type | Serum, Plasma |
| Panel | Hepatic |
| Discipline | Clinical chemistry |
| Brand | Mindray |
What Albumin measures
Albumin is made in the liver and is the most abundant protein in plasma, where it holds oncotic pressure and transports much of what the blood carries, including calcium, bilirubin and a large number of drugs. Because the liver makes it, a falling albumin over weeks is one of the more useful indicators that synthetic function is failing rather than that cells are merely being injured. Its half-life is long, however, so it moves slowly and is a poor marker of anything acute. It also falls in malnutrition, in protein-losing kidney disease and in inflammation, so a low result narrows the question rather than answering it. Because it binds calcium, laboratories reporting a calcium result routinely interpret it against the albumin measured on the same sample.
How Philippine laboratories run it
Reported with total protein and the calculated A/G ratio in the standard Philippine liver and routine chemistry panels, so the two reagents should never be ordered out of step. Albumin also has a second, quieter role that laboratories with a nephrology or oncology workload will recognise: it is requested repeatedly on the same patients over months, which produces steadier demand than the annual-physical assays. Where calcium is on the menu, albumin is effectively part of that report too, since a total calcium result is read against it.
Analyzers it runs on
Calibrator, controls and companion tests
Delivered with its calibrator, both control levels and the rest of the hepatic panel, on the same schedule as Albumin.
Storage and handling
Refrigerated and kept closed when off the analyzer.
Buying Albumin in the Philippines
Albumin is supplied for the BS-600M, BS-430, BS-360E, BS-240Pro, BS-230 and BA-88A. We deliver it with Multi-Sera Calibrator and Chemistry Control Level 1, because a run held up waiting on a separate order costs the same shift a stock-out does. Delivery is scheduled against your monthly Albumin count, so the bench is not rationing tests in the last week of the month. How we plan clinical chemistry supply.
Questions about Albumin
Why does the calcium result depend on albumin?
Because roughly half the calcium in plasma is bound to albumin rather than circulating free. A total calcium measurement counts both fractions, so a patient with a low albumin can show a low total calcium while the physiologically active free fraction is entirely normal. Laboratories therefore interpret total calcium against the albumin measured on the same specimen, which is a good reason to run the two together.
Order Albumin
Tell us your monthly Albumin volume and we will quote a supply schedule for BS-600M. We reply within one business day.
Request a quotation