Experimental Investigation of Interference Effect of Scorpion Antivenom on Immunoassay Method

The original treatment of scorpionism is intravenous antivenom infusion. It is known that antivenom causes clinically allergic reactions, however potential interference effect of scorpion antivenom is unknown . The aim of present study was to investigate the potential of antivenom interference in immunosassay methods. In this study, 50 uL and 100 uL scorpion antivenom was added to 23 immunassay tests used for measuring T3, progesterone, testosterone, parathormone, creatin kinase, cancer antigen and troponin-I concentrations. The free T3 level showed a deviation of 13.09% in high titer antivenom.Progesterone levels were low in the fertility test at 10.58% and testosterone level was 14.57% at the low level. Rate of free T3 deviation was 13.09% in high titer of antivenom. In fertility tests, it was observed that levels of progesterone and testosterone decreased between 10.58-14.57% in low titre antivenom exposure. Negative interference was observed between 11-16% in low and high titre antivenom at parathomone levels.Mass creatine kinase MB test exposured 7.35-21.58% negative interference and troponin-I test introduced positive interference. Especially, the false negative results of cardiac test have a vital proposition because it will cause cardiac complications to be skipped. The most negative interference was observed for Cancer Antigen 19-9 concentration with a rate of 28.65-28.9%. For all immunoassay measurements, every antibody is a risk factor that cause false negative or positive test result. Therefore, clinicians should be careful to confirm diagnostic laboratory tests until better methods than immunoassay techniques are found