Department of Laboratory Medecine, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Appl Lab Med. 2021 Mar 1;6(2):409-420. doi: 10.1093/jalm/jfaa111.
Serum is commonly used for clinical chemistry testing but many conditions can affect the clotting process, leading to poor sample quality and impaired workflow. With serum gel tubes, we found a high proportion of sample probe aspiration errors on our Beckman AU5800 analyzers. We decided to implement the BD Barricor™ plasma tubes, and we validated an off-specification centrifugation scheme and verified that results obtained for 65 chemistry and immunochemistry tests were comparable to those obtained in serum gel tubes. Finally, we evaluated the impact of this new tube on sample error rate and laboratory turnaround time.
To validate centrifugation settings, 50 paired samples were collected in Barricor tubes and centrifuged at 1912 × g for 10 min or 5 min (off-specification). To compare serum gel tubes with Barricor plasma tubes, 119 paired samples were collected from volunteers and results were analyzed using weighed Deming regression. Finally, the proportion of aspiration errors and laboratory TAT for potassium were measured before and after implementing Barricor tubes.
Barricor tubes showed clinically acceptable equivalence to serum gel tubes for the studied analytes, and the off-specification centrifugation scheme did not affect the results. Implementing Barricor tubes improved the laboratory workflow by decreasing the aspiration error rates (2.01% to 0.77%, P < 0.001) and lowering hemolysis (P < 0.001). The laboratory TAT for potassium were also significantly lowered (P < 0.001).
Use of Barricor tubes instead of serum gel tubes leads to better sample quality, shorter more reproducible laboratory TAT, and decreases costs associated with error management.
血清常用于临床化学检测，但许多情况会影响凝血过程，导致样本质量差和工作流程受阻。使用血清凝胶管时，我们发现贝克曼 AU5800 分析仪上有很高比例的样本探针吸样错误。我们决定采用 BD Barricor™ 血浆管，并验证了一个不合规的离心方案，确认 65 项化学和免疫化学检测的结果与血清凝胶管相当。最后，我们评估了这种新管对样本错误率和实验室周转时间的影响。
为验证离心设置，收集 50 对 Barricor 管样本，以 1912×g 离心 10 分钟或 5 分钟（不合规）。为比较血清凝胶管和 Barricor 血浆管，收集 119 对志愿者样本，使用加权 Deming 回归分析结果。最后，在使用 Barricor 管前后，分别测量钾样本吸样错误率和实验室 TAT。
Barricor 管与血清凝胶管在研究分析物上具有临床可接受的等效性，且不合规的离心方案不影响结果。采用 Barricor 管可通过降低吸样错误率（2.01%降至 0.77%，P<0.001）和减少溶血（P<0.001）改善实验室工作流程。钾的实验室 TAT 也显著降低（P<0.001）。
使用 Barricor 管代替血清凝胶管可提高样本质量，缩短更具重现性的实验室 TAT，并降低与错误管理相关的成本。
