Laboratory Medicine

Specimen Handling

Collection Instructions: Collect 1 gold top tube and and 2 blue top tubes. Following collection, serum should be separated from the clot, following centrifugation. Store samples at room temperature no longer than 8 hours. Write your initials, date and time of collection on the collection label.

Stability: Serum Store samples at room temperature no longer than 8 hours. If the assay will not be completed within 8 hours, or for shipment of the sample, freeze at -20°C or lower. Plasma Specimens are stable for 4 hours post collection at room temperature. Specimens which are not tested within 4 hours can be double-spun to remove the citrated plasma. The citrated plasma is stable at -20°C for up to two weeks or -70°C for up to six months.

Transportation: In/Outpatients: Send specimens at room temperature to corelab as soon as possible. Referred-in: Send frozen citrated plasma and frozen serum on dry ice. The tubes must be labelled to clearly indicate which is serum and which is plasma. All samples must be sent to the Core Laboratory.

Rejection Criteria: Thawed specimen, unlabeled or samples of non-sufficient quantity, grossly hemolyzed samples.