ABSTRACT
The cornerstone of spectrophotometry of haemoglobin is an accurate method for measuring the total haemoglobin concentration. This chapter deals with the fundamentals and the history of the standardised method for measuring total concentration of haemoglobin (ctHb). The determination of the absorptivity spectra of the common haemoglobin derivatives of man and several animals required numerous determinations of ctHb to be made rapidly and reliably. The recommendations for haemoglobinometry, with the haemiglobincyanide method as method of choice, were finally adopted at the world level during the eleventh International Congress of Haematology in Sydney. The World Health Organisation (WHO) established haemiglobincyanide solutions as WHO International Reference Preparations in 1968. The International Committee for Standaixiisation in Haematology Expert Panel on Haemoglobinometry published its first recommendations for haemoglobinometry in 1967 and has since reviewed and where necessary updated the recommendations.
