Stability of VACUETTE® Lithium Heparin Separator Tubes with Modified Centrifugation Conditions

VACUETTE® Lithium Heparin Separator tubes contain a barrier gel in the tube. The specific gravity of this material lies between the blood cells and plasma. The anticoagulant heparin activates antithrombins, thus blocking the coagulation cascade and producing a whole blood/plasma sample making it ideal for rapid analysis and analysis of blood from patients on anticoagulant therapy. In order to shorten turn-around-time (TAT), laboratory professionals very often centrifuge a variety of blood collection tubes under the same centrifuge settings. This study was carried out to compare two different centrifugation conditions including stability of analytes for 48 hours in order to improve laboratory efficiency by standardizing centrifugation conditions.