Certain lab tests can be affected and the reported results will be inaccurate. It falsely decreases values such as RBC’s, HCT, and aPTT. It can also falsely elevate potassium, ammonia, magnesium, phosphorus, AST, ALT, LDH and PT.
Table of Contents
Why is serum preferred over plasma in most chemistry Analyses?
In general, serum samples (red top tubes) are preferred for chemistry testing. This is because our chemistry reference intervals are based on serum not plasma. In general, there is little difference between serum and plasma, except for certain analytes.
Which chemistry analytes are most affected by hemolysis?
Two analytes greatly impacted by hemolysis are potassium and lactate dehydrogenase, in which their concentrations in erythrocytes are more than 20 times and 150 times higher than it is in serum, respectively.
What is haemolysis in chemistry?
Hemolysis is conventionally defined as the release of hemoglobin and other intracellular components of erythrocytes into the extracellular space of blood. 1,2. Hemolysis may occur in vivo and in vitro.
How does hemolysis affect serum sodium?
As previously reported, in vitro hemolysis is known to negatively interfere with sodium due to a diluting effect (13,14), as the intracellular concentration of sodium is significantly lower than the concentration in serum or plasma.
What is the major cause of specimen rejection?
The most common reasons for specimen rejection were contamination (n=764, 35.1%), inappropriate collection container/tube (n=330, 15.2%), quantity not sufficient (QNS) (n=329, 15.1%), labeling errors (n=321, 14.7%), hemolyzed specimen (n=205, 9.4%), and clotted specimen (n=203, 9.3%).
What do the colors of blood test tubes mean?
The tests each bottle is used for are the same: the purple one is for cell count, the yellow one is for electrolytes, albumin and LDH, the grey one is for glucose, and blood culture bottles can be used for fluid cultures.
What color tube is used for serology?
Red top – Tube without gel separator, used mainly for serology and chemistry testing. 10mL Red top tubes are used in Blood Bank for antibody screens.
What are the advantages of using plasma as compared to serum in laboratory testing for chemical analysis?
Specimens can be processed more quickly, shortening the turnaround time for test results. There is a potentially higher sample volume yield with plasma, with approximately 15-20% more plasma obtainable from whole blood than with serum.
What is the major difference between plasma and serum?
Serum and plasma both come from the liquid portion of the blood that remains once the cells are removed, but that’s where the similarities end. Serum is the liquid that remains after the blood has clotted. Plasma is the liquid that remains when clotting is prevented with the addition of an anticoagulant.
Which of the following analyte will not be affected by hemolysis?
Analytes that were not affected at even the highest level of hemolysis include calcium, chloride, creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP), glucose and sodium.
Does hemolysis affect ammonia levels?
This implies that hemolysis has little additional effect over time on the plasma ammonia measurement. In conclusion, hemolysis was found to have a significantly lower impact on the measurement of plasma ammonia than stated by the manufacturer.
What color is hemolyzed plasma?
Hemolysis presence in serum or plasma specimens can be visually identified as a pink to red color, when hemoglobin concentrations are > 0.2 g/dL [88].
What does pink plasma mean?
So if there are any contaminants in the plasma they can show up by changing the colour. So the colour of a pure plasma is pink, if there is too much beryllium from the walls, that adds a blue green tinge, Oxygen is blue (that’s a bad sign, means there’s a leak) etc etc.
Does hemolysis affect chloride?
Even at the greatest hemolysis degree, HI=(4+), no interference was detected for calcium, chloride, creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP), glucose and sodium.
Can serum get hemolyzed?
Hemolysis is a common occurrence seen in serum samples and may compromise the laboratory’s test parameters. Hemolysis can occur from two sourcesi. e. In-vivo hemolysis may be due to pathological conditions, such as autoimmune hemolytic anemia or transfusion reaction.
Does hemolysis affect serum calcium?
2. The calcium content of nonhemolyzed serum is slightly higher than that of plasma. Hemolyzed blood, after being treated with ammonium acetate, gives a slightly lower calcium content than nonhemolyzed blood.
How does hemolysis affect potassium?
Of all routine blood tests plasma/serum potassium measurement is one of the most sensitive to the effect of hemolysis because red-cell potassium concentration is so much higher than that of plasma (approximately 20 times higher); hemolysis causes a spuriously high plasma potassium concentration.
What are the electrolytes affected by hemolysis?
Moderate hemolysis significantly increased plasma phosphorus levels. Marked hemolysis significantly increased plasma values of potassium, phosphorus, total protein, and aspartate aminotransferase.
What makes a blood sample unusable?
Insufficient sample When your sample is received at the laboratory it is spun and separated into the blood cells and the liquid (plasma) that surrounds the cells. If the amount of blood taken is too small then the lab will struggle to produce enough plasma from it.
Why is blood rejected at the lab?
The most frequent cause of rejection of sample—43.8% of cases—was a clot in the total blood and/or plasma sample, followed by insufficient sample volume (24%); the reason for rejection by hemolyzed sample, in turn, was the third most frequent cause, involving 17.9% of cases.
What are the reasons for blood specimen rejection in laboratory?
- Incorrect specimen collection container.
- insufficient specimen quantity.
- Transported incorrectly.
- Inadequate fixative.
- specimen too large for container.
- Incorrect media.
- Specimen stability compromised (i.e. age of specimen, temperature stored)
What color are plasma tubes?
Green top tube with sodium or lithium heparin: used for plasma or whole blood determinations.
What does a purple blood tube mean?
The purple top tube provides blood for infectious disease tests and ascertaining important data such as ABO/Rh (blood type), as well as whether the blood is positive or negative for cytomegalovirus (CMV), HIV, hepatitis, and West Nile virus, to name a few.
What does yellow mean on a blood test?
A bilirubin blood test measures the levels of bilirubin in your blood. Bilirubin is a yellowish substance made during your body’s normal process of breaking down old red blood cells. Bilirubin is found in bile, a fluid your liver makes that helps you digest food.