title: Sodium citrate vacuum tubes validation: preventing preanalytical variability in routine coagulation testing.
abstract: Sometimes in-vitro diagnostic devices (e.g. blood collection tubes) are not validated before use or when the producer's brand is changed. The aim of this study was to validate five brands of sodium citrate vacuum tubes. Blood specimens from 50 volunteers were collected in five different tube brands (I: Venosafe, II: VACUETTE, III: BD Vacutainer, IV: LABOR IMPORT and V: S-Monovette). Routine coagulation tests [activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time (PT), and fibrinogen (FIB)] were performed on ACL TOP instrument using HemosIL reagents. The significance of the differences between samples was assessed by paired Student's t-test, set at P < 0.005. Significant differences were observed for: PT when comparing I vs. II, I vs. III, I vs. V, II vs. III, II vs. IV, II vs. V, III vs. IV, III vs. V and IV vs. V; aPTT when comparing I vs. II, I vs. III, I vs. IV, II vs. IV, III vs. IV and IV vs. V. No differences were observed among brands for FIB determination. We suggest that every laboratory management should both standardize the procedures and frequently evaluate the quality of in-vitro diagnostic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Reproduction Sciences, Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Verona, Italy. dr.g.lima.oliveira@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lima-Oliveira
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lippi
authors.forename: Gian Luca
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Salvagno
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montagnana
authors.forename: Geraldo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Picheth
authors.forename: Gian Cesare
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Guidi
mesh_terms: D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000502:physiology; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests / Q000592:standards*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000592:standards*; D002951:Citrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000077559:Sodium Citrate; D014618:Vacuum
chemical_list: D002951:Citrates; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D000077559:Sodium Citrate; D005340:Fibrinogen