Abstract
We recently encountered inappropriately increased free triiodothyronine (FT3) concentrations when blood specimens were collected in glass serum separator tubes (SSTTM; Vacutainer®). Although Banfi and Pontillo (1) reported no differences between plain and gel-containing tubes until 72 h after blood collection for FT3 [and thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4)], we investigated the effects of storing specimens in gel-containing tubes on these analytes. We collected blood specimens from 11 healthy volunteers in both SST (16 × 100 mm) and plain glass (13 × 100 mm) Vacutainer Tubes. All specimens were allowed to clot for 30 min at room temperature before centrifugation at 1300 g for 10 min. Sera separated in SST tubes remained on the separator gel, whereas sera separated in plain tubes were transferred into 13 × 100 mm plain tubes (Vacutainer) for storage. All SST specimens and transferred control specimens were kept capped and …
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