Tube System and Heparin

The subject of tube system hemostasis specimen delivery originally appeared on theMedlab_L list, and I asked Linda Stang, Lab Scientist in Special Coagulation at theUniversity of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton for permission to share her Medlab_Lcomment. She wrote, “Our hemolysis rate for those patients is much higher and we are engaging in a plan to figure it out. The other issue that we have had is that patients on heparin have lower PTT when the blood is sent through the pneumatic tube system, assumably from shear force activating the platelet, releasing PF4, and neutralizing some of the ex vivo heparin in the citrate tube. And I don’t believe I have seen any publication of tube system validation where samples were tested from patients on heparin, which I think is a critical oversight.” I invite comments from our participants on tube system delivery.