Objective To explore the differences of the detection results of electrolyte by blood-gas analysis and biochemistry method,and to compare the clinical significance of the two methods in reference of their laboratory turn around time(TAT).Methods Artery blood and venous blood were collected from 86 inpatients in the First Hospital of Xiangtan.The artery blood was tested for electrolyte by ABL80 Blood-gas Analyzer,and the venous blood was centrifuged and the venous sera were determined for electrolyte by the Abbott Architect C8000 Automatic Biochemistry Analyzer.The laboratory TAT of the two methods from the reception of the specimens to the delivery of the reports was collected and analyzed.Results The potassium concentration in the artery blood determined by the blood-gas analyzer was significantly lower than that in the venous serum detected by the automatic biochemistry analyzer(P<0.01),but the correlation between them was good(r=0.889).The concentrations of sodium,chlorine and calcium measured by the two methods were not statistically different(P>0.05).The TAT of artery blood by blood-gas analysis was sharply shorter than that of venous serum by biochemistry analyzer(P<0.01).Conclusions The potassium concentration in the artery blood determined by the blood-gas analyzer is significantly lower than that in the venous serum detected by the automatic biochemistry analyzer,despite a good correlation between them.The laboratory TAT of artery blood samples by blood-gas analysis is markedly shorter than that of venous serum by biochemistry analyzer.The electrolyte in artery blood determined by blood-gas analysis is helpful to the early diagnosis of emergency or critical conditions.