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Influence of pneumatic tube system transport on routinely assessed and spectrophotometric cerebrospinal fluid parameters

  • Pavel Broz EMAIL logo , Daniel Rajdl , Jaroslav Racek , Jana Zenkova and Vlasta Petrikova
Published/Copyright: June 30, 2016
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 55 Issue 1

Abstract

Background:

Pneumatic tube systems (PTS) are widely used in many hospitals. Using PTS reduces turnaround time (TAT) and can improve patients’ outcome.

Methods:

We investigated whether clinically significant differences could be observed in CSF samples transported by pneumatic tube in comparison with samples transported by hand. Two aliquots from one sample were sent by PTS and by hand from the department of neurology or neurosurgery and compared.

Results:

Routine cytological and biochemical assessment was compared in 27 cases. There were no statistically significant changes (transport by hand vs. PTS) in glucose levels [data are expressed as median (minimum–maximum)] at 3.7 (2.5–8.6) mmol/L vs. 3.6 (2.7–8.6) mmol/L, p=0.96 or lactate levels at 1.8 mmol/L (1.1–5.5) vs. 1.8 mmol/L (1.1–5.4). We observed a statistically significant decline in total protein levels in samples transported by PTS at 0.56 g/L (0.19–4.29) vs. 0.49 g/L (0.18–4.3), p=0.008. We observed no changes in erythrocyte count at 5/μL (0–40,000) vs. 5/μL (0–40,106), mononuclear cells at 2/μL (1–145) vs. 3/μL (1–152), or polynuclear cells at 0/μL (0–235) vs. 0/μL (0–352). Spectrophotometric examination was performed in 20 cases. There were no statistically significant differences (transport by hand vs. transport by PTS) in NOA at 0.002 (0.001–1.537) vs. 0.001 (0.001–1.528), p=0.95 or NBA at 0.001 (0.001–0.231) vs. 0.001 (0.001–0.276), p=0.675. Samples transported by PTS were delivered faster than samples transported by courier (transport by hand vs. PTS) at 25 min (10–153) vs. 15 min (4–110), p=0.002.

Conclusions:

We found no significant changes in glucose, lactate levels and in any of the cytological parameters assessed, nor were statistically significant changes observed in the spectrophotometric parameters. We found a statistically significant decrease in total protein levels in samples transported by PTS. Transport by PTS can be faster than transport by hand.

Keywords: cerebrospinal fluid; cytology; pneumatic tube; spectrophotometry

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The study was supported by the Ministry of Health, Czech Republic – Conceptual Development of Research Organisation (FNPl – 00669806).

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organisation(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Received: 2016-2-23
Accepted: 2016-5-27
Published Online: 2016-6-30
Published in Print: 2017-1-1

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Describing children’s changes using clinical chemistry analytes
  4. Review
  5. Assessment of vitamin D status – a changing landscape
  6. Opinion Papers
  7. Order of blood draw: Opinion Paper by the European Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Working Group for the Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE)
  8. The principles of Health Technology Assessment in laboratory medicine
  9. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  10. Functional polymorphism of lncRNA MALAT1 contributes to pulmonary arterial hypertension susceptibility in Chinese people
  11. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  12. Influence of pneumatic tube system transport on routinely assessed and spectrophotometric cerebrospinal fluid parameters
  13. Estimation of hematocrit in filter paper dried bloodspots by potassium measurement: advantage of use of perimeter ring samples over circular center sub-punch samples
  14. Evaluation of the first fully automated immunoassay method for the measurement of stimulating TSH receptor autoantibodies in Graves’ disease
  15. Comparison of four immunoassays to measure serum ferritin concentrations and iron deficiency prevalence among non-pregnant Cambodian women and Congolese children
  16. Activity and expression of dipeptidyl peptidase IV on peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with early steroid and disease modifying antirheumatic drugs naïve rheumatoid arthritis
  17. Hematology and Coagulation
  18. Neutrophil CD64 Index as a superior biomarker for early diagnosis of infection in febrile patients in the hematology department
  19. Dilute Russell’s viper venom time reagents in lupus anticoagulant testing: a well-considered choice
  20. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  21. Pediatric reference intervals for alkaline phosphatase
  22. Cancer Diagnostics
  23. Transcript expression and genetic variability analysis of caspases in breast carcinomas suggests CASP9 as the most interesting target
  24. CDH1 (E-cadherin) expression independently affects clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia with normal cytogenetics
  25. Cardiovascular Diseases
  26. Association of monocyte to HDL cholesterol level with contrast induced nephropathy in STEMI patients treated with primary PCI
  27. Low concentrations of adropin are associated with endothelial dysfunction as assessed by flow-mediated dilatation in patients with metabolic syndrome
  28. Preoperative serum potassium predicts the clinical outcome after non-cardiac surgery
  29. Diabetes
  30. A simple colorimetric assay for measuring fructosamine 3 kinase activity
  31. Acknowledgment
  32. Acknowledgment
  33. Letters to the Editor
  34. Normalisation issues in glucose measurements using phlebotomy tubes with liquid additives
  35. Utility of dilution tests in investigating interference in the free thyroxine assay
  36. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 as a marker of cardiovascular response in professional mountain ultra-marathon runners
  37. Pitfalls of LSD screening assays: comparison of KIMS and CEDIA immunoassays with LC-MS
  38. A two site comparison of two point-of-care activated clotting time systems
  39. Detection of the common South-East Asian β0-thalassemia mutations in samples with borderline HbA2 levels
  40. Biclonal plasma cell myeloma with the simultaneous appearance of both secretory lambda and nonsecretory kappa monoclonal light chains
https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2016-0143
Keywords for this article
cerebrospinal fluid; cytology; pneumatic tube; spectrophotometry

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Describing children’s changes using clinical chemistry analytes
  4. Review
  5. Assessment of vitamin D status – a changing landscape
  6. Opinion Papers
  7. Order of blood draw: Opinion Paper by the European Federation for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Working Group for the Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE)
  8. The principles of Health Technology Assessment in laboratory medicine
  9. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  10. Functional polymorphism of lncRNA MALAT1 contributes to pulmonary arterial hypertension susceptibility in Chinese people
  11. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  12. Influence of pneumatic tube system transport on routinely assessed and spectrophotometric cerebrospinal fluid parameters
  13. Estimation of hematocrit in filter paper dried bloodspots by potassium measurement: advantage of use of perimeter ring samples over circular center sub-punch samples
  14. Evaluation of the first fully automated immunoassay method for the measurement of stimulating TSH receptor autoantibodies in Graves’ disease
  15. Comparison of four immunoassays to measure serum ferritin concentrations and iron deficiency prevalence among non-pregnant Cambodian women and Congolese children
  16. Activity and expression of dipeptidyl peptidase IV on peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with early steroid and disease modifying antirheumatic drugs naïve rheumatoid arthritis
  17. Hematology and Coagulation
  18. Neutrophil CD64 Index as a superior biomarker for early diagnosis of infection in febrile patients in the hematology department
  19. Dilute Russell’s viper venom time reagents in lupus anticoagulant testing: a well-considered choice
  20. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  21. Pediatric reference intervals for alkaline phosphatase
  22. Cancer Diagnostics
  23. Transcript expression and genetic variability analysis of caspases in breast carcinomas suggests CASP9 as the most interesting target
  24. CDH1 (E-cadherin) expression independently affects clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia with normal cytogenetics
  25. Cardiovascular Diseases
  26. Association of monocyte to HDL cholesterol level with contrast induced nephropathy in STEMI patients treated with primary PCI
  27. Low concentrations of adropin are associated with endothelial dysfunction as assessed by flow-mediated dilatation in patients with metabolic syndrome
  28. Preoperative serum potassium predicts the clinical outcome after non-cardiac surgery
  29. Diabetes
  30. A simple colorimetric assay for measuring fructosamine 3 kinase activity
  31. Acknowledgment
  32. Acknowledgment
  33. Letters to the Editor
  34. Normalisation issues in glucose measurements using phlebotomy tubes with liquid additives
  35. Utility of dilution tests in investigating interference in the free thyroxine assay
  36. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 as a marker of cardiovascular response in professional mountain ultra-marathon runners
  37. Pitfalls of LSD screening assays: comparison of KIMS and CEDIA immunoassays with LC-MS
  38. A two site comparison of two point-of-care activated clotting time systems
  39. Detection of the common South-East Asian β0-thalassemia mutations in samples with borderline HbA2 levels
  40. Biclonal plasma cell myeloma with the simultaneous appearance of both secretory lambda and nonsecretory kappa monoclonal light chains
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