Stability of routine biochemical analytes in whole blood and plasma/serum: focus on potassium stability from lithium heparin
-
Anne Marie Dupuy
,
Bruno Vincent
Abstract
Background:
Blood specimens are transported from clinical departments to the biochemistry laboratory by hospital courier service, sometimes over long distances. The aim of this study was to assess the stability of common biochemical analytes in venous blood under our routine transport conditions and to evaluate analyte stability after prompt or delayed centrifugation.
Methods:
We investigated pre- and postanalytical contributions of 32 biochemical analytes in plasma and serum samples from 10 patients (healthy adults and patients from intensive care units). Differences in analyte concentrations between baseline (T0) and different time intervals (2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 h) following storage after prompt and delayed centrifugation were reported. Evaluation was against the total change limit as described by Oddoze et al. (Oddoze C, Lombard E, Portugal H. Stability study of 81 analytes in human whole blood, in serum and in plasma. Clin Biochem 2012;45:464–9).
Results:
The majority of analytes were stable with delayed separation up to 12 h, except for potassium, C-peptide, osteocalcin, parathyroid hormone (PTH), bicarbonate and LDH. After prompt centrifugation and storage at 4°C, stability was greatly increased up to 48 h for most analytes. LDH and bicarbonate had the lowest stability after centrifugation; therefore, no reanalysis of these analytes in a centrifuged tube can be allowed.
Conclusions:
Knowledge of analyte stability is crucial to interpret biological analysis with confidence. However, centrifugation prior to transport is time consuming, and the transfer of plasma or serum from a primary tube to a secondary tube increases the risk of preanalytical errors. For analytes that are stable in whole blood for 24 h or more, it seems that there is no benefit to centrifuge before transport.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the biochemistry laboratory personnel for technical assistance.
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.
References
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©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Analytical quality: an unfinished journey
- Reviews
- Update in diagnosis and management of primary aldosteronism
- Diagnosis biomarkers in acute intestinal ischemic injury: so close, yet so far
- Opinion Papers
- Irregular analytical errors in diagnostic testing – a novel concept
- A Black Swan in clinical laboratory practice: the analytical error due to interferences in immunoassay methods
- General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
- Reaching consensus on communication of critical laboratory results using a collective intelligence method
- Stability of routine biochemical analytes in whole blood and plasma/serum: focus on potassium stability from lithium heparin
- GFR estimation based on standardized creatinine and cystatin C: a European multicenter analysis in older adults
- Binding of bromocresol green and bromocresol purple to albumin in hemodialysis patients
- Interlaboratory variability of urinary iodine measurements
- The venous thromboembolic risk and the clot wave analysis: a useful relationship?
- Hematology and Coagulation
- Autovalidation and automation of the postanalytical phase of routine hematology and coagulation analyses in a university hospital laboratory
- Reference Values and Biological Variations
- Indirect method for validating transference of reference intervals
- Differences in levels of albumin, ALT, AST, γ-GT and creatinine in frail, moderately healthy and healthy elderly individuals
- Cancer Diagnostics
- Serum exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA as a novel marker for hepatocellular carcinoma
- Intragenic hypomethylation of DNMT3A in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Evaluation of analytical performance of a new high-sensitivity immunoassay for cardiac troponin I
- MEF2C loss-of-function mutation associated with familial dilated cardiomyopathy
- Letter to the Editor
- Hyperuricemia does not seem to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease
- Reply to: Hyperuricemia does not seem to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease
- Preanalytics of ammonia: stability, transport and temperature of centrifugation
- Influence of delayed separation of plasma from whole blood on Cu, I, Mn, Se, and Zn plasma concentrations
- Copeptin as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients admitted to Emergency Department with syncope, presyncope and vertiginous syndrome
- Development of an internally controlled quantitative PCR to measure total cell-associated HIV-1 DNA in blood
- Selective changes in cholesterol metabolite levels in plasma of breast cancer patients after tumor removal
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