Specimen Requirements

Specimen Type: Platelet-poor plasma

Container/Tube:

Fill Blue top tube to the etched line located just below the cap of the tube.

Preferred: Full Light-blue top (3.2% sodium citrate)

Acceptable: Full Sodium citrate (BD® or Greiner tubes) 

Specimen Volume: 1 mL

Specimen Minimum Volume: 0.5 mL

Collection Instructions:

1. Unacceptable specimens: Specimens that are short-draws, over-draws, clotted or hemolyzed may yield incorrect results.

2. If sending from a site spin down, remove top 2/3 of plasma, and spin plasma again in a polyproyplene (cloudy plastic) vial.

3. Aliquot top 3/4 and place platelet-poor plasma in a polypropylene (cloudy plastic) vial.

4. Glass vials are not acceptable for processing/transport/storage.

Additional Information:

1. Double-centrifuged specimens are critical for accurate results as platelet contamination may cause spurious results.
2. Sites: Send double spun plasma frozen (up to two weeks).

3. If sending sodium citrate whole blood, specimen must be received within 8 hours of draw.