Estudio comparativo de equipos INR capilar "point of care" versus INR venoso, en pacientes en tratamiento con antagonistas de vitamina K / Comparison of point of care capillary international normalized ratio (INR) with INR measured in venous samples

Background: INR is used to monitor the treatment with vitamin K antagonists. A strategy to reduce waiting times for sampling is to measure INR in a capillary sample using a portable point of care (POC) type coagulometer. Aim: To evaluate the correlation of CoaguChek Pro II™, Xprecia™ and microINR™ with venous INR measured at the clinical laboratory and their ease of use. Materials and Methods: Patients provided capillary and venous blood samples for parallel tests comparing Xprecia™ Stride with CoaguChek Pro II™ and with venous INR, microINR™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM and with venous INR. The devices' ease of use was assessed surveying the sampling staff. Results: The three tested devices had good correlation coefficients with venous INR: CoaguChek Pro IITM 0.953 and 0.962; Xprecia™ of 0.912 and microINR™ of 0.932. The correlation coefficient of Xprecia™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM was 0.937 and microINR™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM was 0.976. Conclusions: CoaguChek Pro IITM, Xprecia™ and microINR™ results had a good correlation coefficient with INR measured at the laboratory. Our results indicate that, in the hands of trained users, POC-type coagulometers are reliable and acceptable for routine use in anticoagulant treatment control.

Caracterización de muestras de cocaína inorgánica en una provincia ecuatoriana / Characterization of inorganic cocaine samples in an Ecuadorian province

El consumo de cocaína representa un problema de salud, por constituir un psicotrópico ilícito de elevado consumo, lo que ocasiona motivo de atención en los servicios de emergencia, adicción que genera riesgos relativos a los componentes asociados a la misma. Se realizó un estudio cuantitativo, de tipo descriptivo, cuyo objetivo fue caracterizar muestras inorgánicas de cocaína en el Laboratorio de Química Forense de una provincia del contexto ecuatoriano durante el período julio y diciembre de 2016. Se trabajó con la totalidad de la población, la que estuvo compuesta por 90 muestras. La cuantificación de los elementos químicos presen-tes en los ejemplares se realizó a través de una cromatografía de gases utilizando un detector de masas acoplado al equipo. Se determinó que de forma mayoritaria la mitad de las muestras contenían impurezas como cinamoilcocaína, metilecgonina, tropococaína, benzoilecgonina, kientras que solo el 11,1% de estas no tenía contaminaciones alcaloidales. En cuanto a la presencia de adulterantes en el material analizado, el almidón resultó ser el más utilizado por los comercializadores de la cocaína en el entorno estudiado; aunque también se pudo obser-var el uso de fenacetina, levamisol y aminopirina.

Consumption of cocaine represents an emerging health problem because it is an illicit psychotropic drug consumed among patients treated in emergency rooms, and it also genera-tes other risks related to the components that may be present in it. The study was carried out with a quantitative, descriptive approach. The research aimed to characterize the inorganic samples of cocaine in the Forensic Chemistry Laboratory of a province in the Ecuadorian context during the period July-December 2016. The whole population of 90 samples was taken into account. The quantification of the chemical elements presented in the specimens was carried out through gas chromatography using a mass detector coupled to the equipment. It was determined that half of the samples contained impurities sucah as cinnamoylcocaine, methylecgonine and tropococaine, benzoylecgonine and only 11.1% of the samples did not have alkaloidal impurities as results of the research. Regarding the presence of adulterants in the material analyzed, starch was the most used by cocaine drug dealers in the studied envi-ronment; the use of phenacetin, levamisole and aminopyrine could also be observed.