We have always separated our serum from the cells for testing and storage. We now use EDTA pink top tubes for testing and I was wondering if we still need to do this. What is the practice in your facility? Thanks!

At present, in my Reference Laboratory, we still separate the plasma from the red cells with all of our samples, including our EDTA samples (which are now almost 100% of the samples anyway).

There is talk that we may be going over (nationally) to introducing the plunger system, where you can freeze the samples, and the plunger does not allow the (now haemolysed) red cells from contaminating the thawed plasma, should we need to go back to perform further testing on the plasma. Personally, and this is only a personal view, I am against this, as we often have to go back to the samples and further type the red cells and, of course, we will be unable to do this once the red cells have been frozen and thawed, without a cryopreservative in the red cells, and some way off getting a pipette through the plunger - a conumdrum that defeats me!!!!!!!!!

We have stopped this practice a few years ago with out any issues.

JB

We don't separate anymore unless we are doing an Ab ID and need to keep going into the cells for Ag typing and the like.

We use EDTA and do not separate

We use EDTA and do separate.

We use EDTA and do not separate.

We use EDTA and do separate.

EDTA do not separate.

We use EDTA and separate the cells only if the specimen is a surgery specimen drawn in advance.

We use EDTA and do not separate. We started not separating after a series of errors on GY where cells/plasma were mixed up and not initially caught. We have not had any negative issues with not separating.

EDTA and we still separate. Considering not separating.