JISCMail - ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN Archives

Hi Mark,

It would be interesting to see a summary of the primary sample types in use in UK Biochemistry laboratories.

When I first started working in the lab, before the arrival of tracks, there was more of a distinction between chemistry and endocrine. Heparin plasma was the preferred chemistry sample with a plain serum required for any endocrine tests.

The arrival of analysers that allowed connecting photometric and immunoassay analysers brought a shift to using serum samples as the preferred sample in general.

Increased pressure on turnaround-times for ED samples has highlighted the main disadvantage of serum specimens, the time required to clot (BD actually recommend allowing 30 mins clotting time prior to centrifugation for their SST tubes). We routinely encounter samples that have been centrifuged before clotting is completed which then have to be re-spun, delaying the analysis. Moving to plasma would eliminate this problem although there have been reports of issues with plasma samples for some tests, notably a recent product alert concerning non-reproducible, false high-results with the Roche Vitamin D II assay - serum samples were not affected. Despite this, most immunoassay tests (including serology) I have looked at have been validated for use with plasma samples (on the Roche platform).

BD have a heparin tube which uses a mechanical separator (Barricor) that is supposed to produce a "cleaner" plasma sample. Might be worth considering in any evaluation.

Regards,

Gavin

On Thu, 6 Jun 2019 at 09:37, Lynch Mark - Consultant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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We are considering switching from serum gel tubes to LiHep gel tubes for the majority of our general chemistry analytes in both secondary and primary care.

I was wondering if anyone has undertaken such a switch recently and if you have would you share their experience with me?

We have Roche equipment and use Greiner tubes.

Regards

Mark Lynch

Altnagelvin Hospital
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