4 hours room temperature 4 hours refrigerated 2 weeks frozen
Transport Temperature
Critical Frozen (CFZ)
Collection Instructions
1. Fill a light blue top tube as far as vacuum will allow and mix by gentle inversion five to six times. The exact ratio of 1 part sodium citrate to 9 parts blood must be maintained. Inadequate filling of the sample will alter this ratio and may lead to inaccurate results. 2. Patients who have hematocrit values above 55% should
have the anticoagulant adjusted to maintain the 1 to 9 ratio. 3. To obtain platelet-poor plasma, immediately centrifuge sample at 1500 RCFs for 15 minutes, then pipette the supernatant plasma and transfer to a plastic transport tube. 4. Re-centrifuge plasma in the plastic transport tube at 1500 RCFs for 15 minutes to ensure that no red cells are present. 5. Pipette the top two-thirds of the supernatant plasma and transfer 2 mL plasma to another plastic transport tube.
Clearly label tube as citrate plasma. 6. Immediately freeze the plasma at -20 degrees C or lower for transport. Critical Frozen (CFZ). 7. When multiple tests are ordered, submit separate tube for this test.