Laboratory Medicine

Specimen Handling

Collection Instructions: Collect sample in lavender top tube. Protect sample from light. Specimen must be labelled inside and outside light-protecting wrap.Fasting for a minimum of 8 hours. Patient should refrain from eating liver and taking multivitamins or vitamin K at least 24 hours before sample collection. Ensure both samples and requisitions are labelled properly. Write your initials, date and time of collection on the collection label or requisition.

Testing of non-fasting specimens or the use of vitamin K1 supplementation can result in elevated serum vitamin K1 concentrations.

Laboratory Staff Instructions: Separate samples from cells as soon as possible. Protect sample from light. Repeated freezing and thawing of samples should be avoided. Patient should not consume alcohol or take any nutritional supplements with 24 hours

Rejection Criteria: Plasma not frozen, not protected from light, hemolyzed and lipemic samples, and not unlabeled properly

Stability: Stable 1 month frozen.

Transportation: Send sample on ice and protected from light to core lab as soon as possible.