Evaluation of the Delves Micro System for Blood Lead Analysis1

Correlation between results of a Conventional macroscale (5 ml of blood) atomic absorption procedure for lead determination and results of the Delves micro-scale (10 tl blood) atomic absorption method was high (0.96). Analyses of lead in capillary and intravenous blood samples also correlated well (0.93). The coefficient of variation of the Delves micro-scale method was 8% for a concentration of 46 g of lead per milliliter. We conclude that the Delves microscale method-which is simpler, requires smaller Samples than previous methods, and can be readily applied to capillary. (“finger-stick”) blood-is very suitable for a pediatric practice and for the screening of large numbers of patients.