title: Comparison of Becton Dickinson Vacutainer rapid serum tube with the serum separator tube for routine chemistry and immunoassay tests.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To shorten the clotting time and resolve the delayed clotting or no clotting on specimens from patients on anticoagulant therapy, Becton Dickinson (BD) recently developed the Vacutainer rapid serum tube (RST). The aim of this study was to systematically compare the new RST tube with the widely used serum separator tube (SST) for routine chemistry and immunoassay tests on 3 common analyser platforms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood from 45 people (24 women and 21 men, age 21-77 years) was collected using the SST and RST tubes in sequence. Sera from both tubes were separated and analysed simultaneously for 54, 50, and 10 chemistry and/or immunoassay tests on the Roche Modular, Abbott Architect, and Siemens Centaur analysers, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results from the RST tube were comparable with those from the SST tube on most analytes. Although the results for a few analytes showed statistically significant differences between the two tubes (p<0.05), the differences had no clinical significance for most assays. Only for parathyroid hormone on the Abbott Architect, the RST tube demonstrated clinical significant bias versus the SST tube (-15.3%, p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The RST tube provides acceptable performance for routine chemistry and immunoassay tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada Dalhousie Medical Program in New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Capital Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tarr
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Lois
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kinney
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000187:drug effects; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests / Q000295:instrumentation; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: CHEMICAL PATHOLOGY; CHEMISTRY; LABORATORY TESTS; QUALITY ASSURANCE