Customer Reviews

Biosafe Cholesterol Panel, Yellow (1 test)

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This is a portion of a letter I recently sent to the Laboratory Director of Biosafe Lab concerning an apparent result error. To date, I have had no response.

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Friday, June 15, 2007

To: Erlo Roth, M.D.
Laboratory Director
Biosafe Laboratories, Inc.
8600 W. Catalpa
Chicago, IL60656

Ref: Patient no. XXXXXXXX
Specimen no. XXXXXXX


Dear Dr. Roth:

I recently submitted on 4/2/07 a self-collected dry-blood sample for lipid testing and received back the following results in your report dated 4/13/07:

Cholesterol: 224 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol: 99
LDL Cholesterol: 97
Triglycerides: 140

This is the third such testing performed on samples submitted by me within the last year by your laboratory. In addition, I have obtained three other sets of lipid test results from Quest Laboratories through my cardiologist's office:

Analyte mg/dl 5/25/06 11/29/06 6/7/07
Total Chol 231 200 207
LDL 156 151 141
HDL 55 51 48
Triglycerides 100 91 89

Please note the recent HDL value of 99 mg/dl when compared with other results, including your own. This result seems in error, and may in fact be a maxed-out instrument reading. Your associated LDL result is a calculated value that would increase to 156 mg/dl if the average Quest result for HDL were substituted in the calculation. This LDL value is in line with previous LDL values from both Biosafe and Quest Lab, reinforcing the possibility of error in the HDL result.
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I am a former supervisor of an industrial analytic laboratory, and have a lot of experience in testing and metrology. It seems apparent to me that the HDL reported by Biosafe is out of line, and causes additional error due to the calcuated nature of the LDL-c result. I expected a reasonable explanation and an offer to retest, but have no response at all over two months. This episode will end my use of Biosafe for any testing, since no further testing will be reliable to me.

Concerned about other reviews here claiming poor accuracy, I decided to carry out a really careful experiment. I measured my fasting lipids at my primary care physician (who does a regular blood draw sent to a lab) and with this Biosafe product merely 30 minutes later, obtaining the following results:

Lab Biosafe
183 128 total cholesterol
51 69 HDL
118 43 LDL
62 78 triglycerides

I didn't know whether to laugh of cry. Note that the LDL is off by almost a factor of three.
In other words, this product is useless at best, and downright dangerous if it lulls people into a false sense of security.

I think the Biosafe people did a fine job. The instructions that came with this kit were clear and straightforward, and the cholesterol report I received was very comprehensive. The whole experience was quick, painless and simple; if I had visited a doctor for a cholesterol test, the copayment alone would have been more than the cost of this kit. I don't have any reason to doubt the accuracy of the results - they were reasonably close to the last doctor-administered test I had.

However... I wouldn't have bought the test kit if I had seen the authorization form first. The form, which they say you must fill out completely, asks for a lot of personal information: social security #, age, height, weight, phone #, email address. (The SSN request seemed especially out of line - I gave them a phony number.) At the bottom, after the usual liability waiver, it says your signature indicates "I wish to be notified about products and services that relate to my health". There's no checkbox to opt out of this: if you want the sample tested, you have to sign the form, and that apparently puts you on some marketing list. I think that's despicable.

I had already paid for the test, so I signed the form. But I'm not happy that some telemarketer or spammer now has my name and other personal data. It's been a month now, and I haven't gotten any calls or Biosafe spam, so maybe I'm overreacting.

For the money, these folks do a great job! After using this product for 5 years, here's my comments.

PRO: Very easy to use. Very professional and prompt results, as good as the lab your doctor uses (in my opinion). The second time you use this (i.e. I use it once per year), this lab will show your last test results next to the new ones. You couldn't ask for a better way to track your health over time.

CON: They include two lancets to draw blood. WARNING: more than once, those two lancets were not enough, making the test a waste of time and money. Before you take this test (and draw blood for it), go to your local drug store and buy some extra lancets. If you don't, here's what could happen: when you go to "prick" yourself for blood, not near-enough blood will come out of your finger. Not enough blood = no cholesterol test for you. Trust me on this.

OVERALL: a great investment in your own personal healthcare. Just have those extra lancets around, just in case. In case you're curious, a lancet is a small piece of plastic with a needle in it, to help you "prick" yourself for blood. Ask your local pharmacist for more info.

Don't buy this product! I ordered this a few weeks ago, drew the blood, and sent it off to Biosafe. I hadn't heard anything after a couple of weeks, so I tried contacting the company. The phones have been shut off, and now their web site is gone. A vendor who carried their products informed me that Biosafe has filed for bankruptcy and has shut their doors. So, save your money, folks... and Amazon, you should immediately discontinue your offering of any products from Biosafe.

I took 2 tests about 6 weeks apart. I got exactly the same levels on LDL and total choleterol on both tests even though I had been on cholesterol medication and a low cholesterol diet for that time period. I find these results very hard to believe!

Regrettably this test failed to even come close to a lab test my physician ordered the week prior. I was trying to match a baseline so I would have a reliable alternative to an office visit. The test from Biosafe came back 90 points lower on total cholesterol. I followed all instructions provided accurately. I suggest if you want to use this product that you first baseline it against a doctor ordered lab evaluation. As for me I continue my search.

Just a tip for other people with thick blood. I have found that I get better results if I use both lancets immediately. That is I don't use one, squeeze until I run out of blood and then use the other. Instead, I jab myself twice right away. The blood seems to flow better and I can usually get all the circles filled in that way. Also it helps to warm your hand and stand up while you are trying to squeeze the blood out of your finger.

This product is a blood lipids test where samples are summitted, lab tested and results returned via mail. I mailed the samples approximately one month ago and still have NOT received the test results. Very slooow or, worse yet, perhaps no result will be sent.

I found the kit easy to use and I got the results back within a week. The form does ask for your social security number but I just crossed that out and did not provide it. That's personal information that they don't need to know. This did not deter them from sending me my results. I will be ordering another one in about a month to do a retest to see if my efforts have lowered my initial results.