Specimen Management

Faulty In Vitro Clotting in Myeloma

From Heidi Lawson: I was wondering if you had any information on why multiple myeloma (MM) patient specimens do not (at times or at all) spin down well in serum separator tubes (SST) or red top tubes. I called BD and they gave me a small excerpt of information stating that MM patients, due to myeloma […]

Specimen Management

Collecting Blood from Hemodialysis Patient

This practical question was sent to the ASCLS Consumer Web Forum over the weekend: Where would you draw blood from a hemodialysis patient to obtain an ACT? I was always taught to draw from venous port to ascertain the ACT in the system to prevent clotting and blood loss. Thank you for your question. As […]

Specimen Management

Can’t Separate Newborn Plasma

Dear George, One day old baby citrate sample, unable to separate plasma after centrifugation. Repeated with fresh sample, same problem. What is the cause? With regards, Vilas Hiremath, United Labs. Hello, Vilas, it is always good to hear from you. Does this mean no plasma layer appears after centrifugation? If so, perhaps polycythemia has made the […]

Specimen Management

Overfilled Tubes

I received a note from David Chance, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Corvallis OR, commenting that, unlike underfilled coagulation specimen (blue-closure) tubes; overfilling tubes, unless clots are present, does not affect coagulation results. Overfilling may occur when a specimen is collected by syringe and pushed into a tube. There is no comment on overfilling in CLSI H21-A5, […]

Specimen Management

PTT Specimen Storage Time

From Joe Lamb, St. Francis Hospital, Columbus, GA: Hi George. Recent updated test directories for the two big reference labs that serve local physicians state the specimen stability for partial thromboplastin time (PTT, APTT) is 24 hours at room temperature. This causes much confusion when we reject a specimen more than four hours old for PTT […]

Specimen Management

Specimen Freezing and FVII Activation

From Kim Kinney at Indiana University (formerly Clarian) Health Center: Hi George, Even though I am not in coag much any more I still get a ton of questions. One of our TC’s was questioning our storage of PT/INR specimens. We follow the current recommendations of room temperature for 24 hours. We do not accept refrigerated whole […]

Specimen Management

Quick Question Summary: PFT Blood Collection

Here’s a summary of our October, 2011 Quick Question, “What specimen do you require for platelet function testing?” The answers: a. Two-syringe technique using a butterfly set: 1 (2%) b. Two-syringe technique using a Luer-slip needle: 1 (2%) c. 3.2% citrate (blue-closure) tubes by standard collection: 37 (74%) d. 3.2% citrate (blue-closure) tubes using a […]

Platelet Function Testing

Source for Hepzyme?

From my friend and colleague, Donna M. Robert, Coagulation Technical Specialist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock: Hi George. I am looking for a source for Hepzyme. I used to get it from Dade directly, then from Beckman Coulter who said they do not carry it. Do you know of any company that carries this product? Hi, Donna, I checked […]

Specimen Management

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George Fritsma is a medical laboratory scientist, educator, and author. George holds faculty appointments with Rutgers University and Michigan State University, and is a member of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, American Association of Clinical Chemists, and American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.

Cheat Sheets from George

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