title: Comparison of plastic vs. glass evacuated serum-separator (SST) blood-drawing tubes for common clinical chemistry determinations.
abstract: We evaluated a plastic evacuated blood-drawing tube containing an integral serum-separating barrier gel, by direct comparison with a glass counterpart. The plastic tube demonstrated no differences when compared for common clinical chemistry analytes with multiple types of instruments and systems. A total of 260 such different combinations were studied with emphasis on tests sensitive to drawing and handling indexes such as lactate dehydrogenase and potassium. A total of six separate blood drawings were tested with no significant differences noted in these tests. The total study included subjective evaluations of the plastic tube's use as a blood-drawing device and objective studies based on quantitative test results from normal and hospitalized patients and use of the primary sampling tubes (both plastic and glass) for 48-h storage.
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Laessig
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hassemer
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002624:Chemistry, Clinical / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005898:Glass; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D010969:Plastics; D011188:Potassium / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D011188:Potassium