cobas® b 221 system
The cobas® b 221 blood gas system provides reliability for your blood gas testing
The cobas® b 221 system is a fully automated analyzer for blood gas testing, offering a comprehensive configurable menu on various sample types.1 It can be used with whole blood, serum, plasma, dialysis solutions containing acetate or bicarbonate, and pleural fluid for blood gases (pH, pCO2, and pO2), electrolytes, hematocrit, metabolites, total hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, hemoglobin derivatives, and bilirubin (neonatal).
The cobas® b 221 system is designed for mid to high sample throughputs, delivering reliable results in under two minutes. It supports efficient and convenient blood gas diagnosis in hospital laboratories and point-of-care settings, including intensive care units (ICU, NICU, PICU*), emergency departments (A&E, ER), and operating rooms (OR).
Benchtop analyzer which gives lab-quality results in less than 2 minutes
Comprehensive testing menu covers 18 of the most important critical-care blood parameters including blood gases, electrolytes, co-oximetry and metabolites.
Convenience for your critical care testing
Analyzers should deliver rapid and reliable results, be easy to handle and require little maintenance. Our cobas® b 221 system offers these features and a flexible configuration that can meet your specific requirements for critical care testing in high throughput departments.
Use left and right arrow keys to scroll between the tabs
Overview
cobas® b 221 system versions
View full tablecobas® b 221 system versions
| Parameters | Versions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| Blood gases (pH, pO2, pCO2, pH) / Co-oximetry | x | x | x |
| Electrolytes (Na+, K+, Ca2+-) / Hematocrit | x | x | |
| Metabolites (Glu / Lac) | x | ||
| Metabolites (Glu / Lac / Urea (BUN)) | x | ||
| Bilirubin | x | x | x |
Technical specifications
View full tableTechnical specifications
| Parameter | Value |
| Throughput | Up to 50 samples/hour |
| Time to result | Less than 2 minutes with whole-blood sampling |
| Module | Optional module for automatic quality control |
| Parameter combinations | Three different parameter combinations (see table below) including glucose, lactate, urea and bilirubin |
| Maintenance | Durable, low-maintenance sensors |
| Touchscreen | Easy-to-use touchscreen and intuitive user interface |
| Trending acid-base maps | Trending acid-base maps to support clinical decisions |
| Reagent tracking | Control reagents consumption |
| Customizable | Customizable features include a user-definable display and two types of sample application |
| Connectable | Connectable to your network via cobas® infinity POC for remote control and for comprehensive data management |
Technical documents
Related products
References
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. cobas® b 221 system Operators Manual. (v20). 2025
- World Health Organization (2010), WHO guidelines on drawing blood: best practices in phlebotomy, pp31-32.
- Hambsch et al. (2015). Clin Transl Sci 8. 857-870.
- Ekström et al. (2019). Calculated arterial blood gas values from a venous sample and pulse oximetry: Clinical validation. PLoS ONE 14(4):e0215413.
- Kamperidis et al. (2018). Optimizing acute non-invasive ventilation care in the NHS; the v-TAC approach. Thorax 2018;73(Suppl 4):A1–A282.