The effects of transport by car on coagulation tests
-
Merve Ergin
,
Serpil Erdogan
Abstract
Background:
This research investigated the effects of the transport of blood samples between centers/laboratories by car on coagulation tests.
Methods:
Five tubes of blood samples were taken from 20 healthy volunteers. The samples consisted of a baseline (control) group, centrifuged and noncentrifuged transported samples; centrifuged and noncentrifuged untransported samples. The groups of centrifuged and noncentrifuged samples were transported by car for 2 h. The centrifuged and noncentrifuged untransported samples were incubated in the laboratory until the transported samples arrived. Prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) tests were conducted for all samples.
Results:
Significant differences between the baseline group and the centrifuged and noncentrifuged transported samples and the noncentrifuged untransported samples were found for APTT levels (p<0.05, for all). In addition, significant mean percentage differences in PT values were found between the baseline group and the noncentrifuged transported samples (p<0.001) and the noncentrifuged untransported samples (p=0.005). The mean level of PT in the noncentrifuged transported samples was outside the upper limit of the clinical decision level.
Conclusions:
Noncentrifuged transported samples showed clinically significant differences in PT test results that may have stemmed from mechanical agitation during transportation. Therefore, we recommend not transporting noncentrifuged specimens for PT testing by car.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(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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©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Tumor microenvironment and systemic disease: a dual target in medical oncology (also in the case of biomarkers)
- Reviews
- Sample types applied for molecular diagnosis of therapeutic management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer in the precision medicine
- The impact of pneumatic tube system on routine laboratory parameters: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Opinion Paper
- How to reduce scientific irreproducibility: the 5-year reflection
- EFLM Paper
- Strategies to define performance specifications in laboratory medicine: 3 years on from the Milan Strategic Conference
- General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
- Intensive educational efforts combined with external quality assessment improve the preanalytical phase in general practitioner offices and nursing homes
- Separate patient serum sodium medians from males and females provide independent information on analytical bias
- Are admission procalcitonin levels universal mortality predictors across different medical emergency patient populations? Results from the multi-national, prospective, observational TRIAGE study
- Biochemical testing in a laboratory tent and semi-intensive care of Ebola patients on-site in a remote part of Guinea: a paradigm shift based on a bleach-sensitive point-of-care device
- Efficient reporting of the estimated glomerular filtration rate without height in pediatric patients with cancer
- Evaluation of thyroid test utilization through analysis of population-level data
- Relation of serum γ-glutamyl transferase activity with copper in an adult population
- Impact of a single oral dose of 100,000 IU vitamin D3 on profiles of serum 25(OH)D3 and its metabolites 24,25(OH)2D3, 3-epi-25(OH)D3, and 1,25(OH)2D3 in adults with vitamin D insufficiency
- Automated antinuclear immunofluorescence antibody analysis is a reliable approach in routine clinical laboratories
- Infrared analyzers for breast milk analysis: fat levels can influence the accuracy of protein measurements
- Hematology and Coagulation
- A new approach to define acceptance limits for hematology in external quality assessment schemes
- The effects of transport by car on coagulation tests
- Combined measurement of factor XIII and D-dimer is helpful for differential diagnosis in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism
- Reference Values and Biological Variations
- Influence of age, gender and body mass index on late-night salivary cortisol in healthy adults
- Cancer Diagnostics
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- Detection of EGFR mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer by high resolution melting. Comparison with other methods
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- Thyroglobulin autoantibodies before radioiodine ablation predict differentiated thyroid cancer outcome
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Real life dabigatran and metabolite concentrations, focused on inter-patient variability and assay differences in patients with atrial fibrillation
- Infectious Diseases
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- Letters to the Editor
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