(starting date January 2008)

Allow me to introduce yet one more project of our foundation, being the purchase of a modern and very useful apparatus for the Neonatology department of the Na Bulovce Hospital; it is A new-generation combined blood analyzer Stat Profile CCX.

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The neonatology department of the Na Bulovce Hospital deals mostly with healthy babies and cares about them (the physiological new-borns´ department), and this is beautiful and optimistic work. The aim is to teach the mom to take care of her baby, and to ensure that she leaves the hospital untroubled and happy. Yet even a healthy baby must be taken care of professionally by the doctor after the birth. Sometimes it can be difficult to reveal for example a starting infection or a hidden congenital development defect.

Unfortunately, not all babies are born healthy. The spectrum of the neonatological diseases is wide. They mostly concern immature children (premature births). Among other patients of the neonatology department, there are, for example, children after complicated deliveries that required resuscitation, children with infections or congenital defects. The new-born baby can also suffer from metabolic disorders, endocrine diseases, congenital tumours, haematopoiesis disorders, immunity disorders, etc. The neonatology department of the Na Bulovce Hospital is specific in focusing on the issues of infections (a centre for the Czech Republic).

In case the baby is admitted to the hospital´s intensive care unit, then his/her state always requires repeated blood takings for diagnostic purposes. A regular procedure is to take the blood from the vein. In case the sample is sent for further analysis to the laboratory, it is necessary to take up to 4 ml of blood to carry out the basic examination. This amount represents up to 5 % of the overall blood volume in a premature baby..

The combined blood analyzer can do all that with 0.15 ml (that is 25 x less blood). This fact is even more important due to the fact that some examinations must be repeated several times a day. The blood is taken from a capillary – therefore a gentle incision is sufficient, it is not necessary to puncture the vein. Simply said – the baby is not traumatized, the results of the analysis are available instantly (within 90 seconds), which is crucial with urgent conditions, and the amount of blood taken is incomparably lower than in standard procedures.
The apparatus is really amazing. From a sample taken from a single capillary it examines:

- acid-base balance (blood gas level and pH – necessary during controlled breathing)
- ions (necessary during infusion therapy and intravenous nutrition)
- urea, creatinine (kidney function)
- basic parameters of the blood picture
- lactate (metabolism status)
- glycaemia