Specimen Centrifuge

[Jody]

Our lab is trying to standardize our specimen centrifuges. In doing research for this project, I am having a hard time finding how we previously determined centrifuge times and RPM for our centrifuges.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good reference for Blood Bank specimens??? Package inserts, tube manufacturers and even the Technical Manual have been little help.

Thanks!

[Deny Morlino]

Just covered this during our inspection if I am correct in my interpretation of your question. If you are speaking of details for a "serofuge" used for AHG additions and determining the times/RPM's for this there are specifics in the Technical Manual in the Appendicies. I think it was under the QC appendix. If that is not what you are looking for repost and we will see if we can help.

[Jody]

Actually, I am not looking for times/RPM for actual testing. I am looking for the specimen preparation piece. Our current centrifuge is set to spin our specimens for gel testing at 3500RPM for 5 minutes. Our lab is looking a standardizing to one centrifuge for the entire lab including coags which need platelet poor plasma. The centrifuge in question can spin specimens for 3 minutes at 8000RPM for PPP. My problem is I cannot find references related to specimen preparation that would allow me to have a spun specimen in 3 minutes. I would love to decrease my spin times on the specimens and PPP seems like a bonus!

[Dansket]

http://www.statspin.com/products_us/Express3.php

See this site. There is a link to a study.

[John C. Staley]

I think the biggest concern with specimen prep centrifuges has always been under centrifugation. If the sample is under centrifuged then WBCs have been known to cause false positives in the antibody testing (sticky stuff). If your centrifuge meets specs for coag you should be fine. I doubt you will find anything official concerning specimen prep centrifuges for blood bank.

[ANORRIS]

Actually, I am not looking for times/RPM for actual testing. I am looking for the specimen preparation piece. Our current centrifuge is set to spin our specimens for gel testing at 3500RPM for 5 minutes. Our lab is looking a standardizing to one centrifuge for the entire lab including coags which need platelet poor plasma. The centrifuge in question can spin specimens for 3 minutes at 8000RPM for PPP. My problem is I cannot find references related to specimen preparation that would allow me to have a spun specimen in 3 minutes. I would love to decrease my spin times on the specimens and PPP seems like a bonus!

Where did you get the 3500RPM for 5 min?

[ANORRIS]

Our lab is trying to standardize our specimen centrifuges. In doing research for this project, I am having a hard time finding how we previously determined centrifuge times and RPM for our centrifuges.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good reference for Blood Bank specimens??? Package inserts, tube manufacturers and even the Technical Manual have been little help.

Thanks!

I am also having a hard time trying to find a reference for the speed and time to centrifuge BB specimens. We use the pink top tubes, as I am sure most do anymore. I would also appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction.

Thank you too!!

[AMcCord]

We used to use a STAT Spin centrifuge for specimen prep for gel testing. I'm trying to remember...seems like the speed was 7200 RPM and the run time was 2 or 2:30 minutes. I did not find references at the time for using a higher speed, so I did comparison studies for validation, spinning one tube at 3500 for 6(? can't remember time for sure) minutes and a second tube in the STAT spin. After centrifuging, we performed tube types and gel antibody screens and crossmatches with each tube. There were no problems with the STAT Spin specimens. Once we switched to the Echo, we went back to the 3500 RPM centrifuge for 6 minutes.

[ANORRIS]

We used to use a STAT Spin centrifuge for specimen prep for gel testing. I'm trying to remember...seems like the speed was 7200 RPM and the run time was 2 or 2:30 minutes. I did not find references at the time for using a higher speed, so I did comparison studies for validation, spinning one tube at 3500 for 6(? can't remember time for sure) minutes and a second tube in the STAT spin. After centrifuging, we performed tube types and gel antibody screens and crossmatches with each tube. There were no problems with the STAT Spin specimens. Once we switched to the Echo, we went back to the 3500 RPM centrifuge for 6 minutes.

Where did you get the 3500 RPM centrifuge for 6 minutes?

[AMcCord]

There were specific time/RPM recommendations for specimen prep with the Echo and the manual solid phase station. 6 minutes and 3500 RPM fall neatly within that range and our validations went very well using that. Our turn around times improved quite a bit with the Echo, so the short centrifuge time is no longer so important to us.