Journal Information
Journal ID (publisher-id): BM
Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biochem Med (Zagreb)
Title: Biochemia Medica
Abbreviated Title: Biochem. Med. (Zagreb)
ISSN (print): 1330-0962
ISSN (electronic): 1846-7482
Publisher: Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Article Information
Copyright statement: Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.
Copyright: 2017, Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry
License (open-access):
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date received: 10 November 2017
Date accepted: 07 February 2018
Publication date (electronic): 15 April 2018
Publication date (print): 15 June 2018
Volume: 28
Issue: 2
Electronic Location Identifier: 020902
Publisher ID: bm-28-2-020902
DOI: 10.11613/BM.2018.020902
Comparison of Barricor™ vs. lithium heparin tubes for selected routine biochemical analytes and evaluation of post centrifugation stability
Anne Marie Dupuy[1]
Delphine Daubin[3]
Chloé Magnan[1]
Author notes:
[*] Corresponding author: jp-cristol@chu-montpellier.fr
Introduction
Obtaining suitable results unaffected by pre- or postanalytical phases is pivotal for clinical chemistry service. We aimed comparison and stability of nine biochemical analytes after centrifugation using Barricor™ plasma tubes with mechanical separator vs standard Vacutainer® lithium heparin tubes.
Materials and methods
We collected samples on six healthy volunteers and nine patients from intensive care units into 6 mL plastic Vacutainer® lithium heparin tubes and 5.5 mL plastic Barricor™ plasma tubes. All tubes were centrifuged within 30 minutes after venipuncture. First, we compared results of nine biochemical analytes from lithium heparin tubes with Barricor™ tubes for each analyte using Passing-Bablok and Bland-Altman analyses. Second, we calculated the difference of analyte concentrations between baseline and time intervals in tubes stored at + 4 °C. Based on the total change limit we calculated the maximum allowable concentrations percentage change from baseline.
Results
The majority of correlation coefficients were close to 0.99 indicating good correlation in the working range. Bland-Altman analyses showed an acceptable concordance for all analytes. In consequence, the Barricor™ tube might be an alternative to regular lithium heparin tube. Stability with this new generation tube is improved for eight analytes (except for aspartate aminotransferase) in comparison with regular lithium heparin tubes.
Conclusions
By using Barricor™ tubes and prompt centrifugation, supplemental analysis or re-analysis for eight analytes including alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, C-reactive protein, high sensitivity troponin T, lactate dehydrogenase, NT-pro BNP, potassium and sodium could be performed within 72 h of specimen collection.
Keywords: blood specimen collection; plasma; test tube; evaluation
