Background: Bromcresol green (BCG) and Bromcresol Purple (BCP) which are dye-binding based methods are widely used in serum albumin analysis in clinical laboratories for many years. It was suggested that discrepancies exist between these methods and these discrepancies are especially more obvious in hypoalbuminemic patients. We aimed to compare BCG and BCP methods for serum albumin analysis in patients from intensive care and hemodialysis units.

Material and Methods: Serum samples of 24 patients from hemodialysis and 20 from critical care units were used in this study. Blood samples received by clinical biochemistry laboratory for routine controls were firstly analyzed with BCG method. Albumin analysis was repeated with BCP method in the same samples. Bland Altman graphics and Passing Bablok regression analysis were used to test the difference between these two methods.

Results: Mean serum albumin concentrations were 3.05±0.60 g/dL and 2.42±0.67 g/dL with BCG and BCP methods in hemodialysis patients, respectively, while 3.35±0.32 g/dL and 2.55±0.43 g/dL in patients from critical care unit. Serum albumin concentrations determined with BCG method were significantly higher than BCP in both groups (p=0.0001 and p=0.0001).

Conclusion: In hypoalbuminemic individuals BCG method overestimates serum albumin concentrations compared to BCP. This fact should be taken into account in monitoring albumin levels and deciding to albumin replacement.