Haptoglobin

What the risks are:

• excessive bleeding
• fainting or feeling lightheaded
• hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
• infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)
• multiple punctures to locate veins

Special considerations:

Haptoglobin levels maybe affected by the presence of liver disease (if the liver is unable to maintain its normal production of plasma proteins), kidney disease (if plasma proteins are lost in the urine), drugs that affect hepatic (liver) protein synthesis (creation of new proteins by the liver), extensive blood loss, and a variety of conditions that secondarily affect liver and kidney function.

Drugs that can increase haptoglobin measurements include androgens and corticosteroids

Drugs that can decrease haptoglobin measurements include chlorpromazine, diphenhydramine, indomethacin, isoniazid, nitrofurantoin, oral contraceptives (birth control pills), quinidine, and streptomycin.

Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Obtaining a blood sample from some people may be more difficult than from others.