Blood collection tubes - Colour coding of vials, Order of draw

YouTube video is attached. In this high-yield, concise presentation, you will learn about the various blood collection tubes, color coding and the order of draw.

1. Blood collection tubes

2. Colour coding of Vacutainers

3. EDTA tube (Lavender) EDTA is Ethylene diamine tetra acetate – chelates calcium. 1.8mg EDTA/ml of blood

4. EDTA tube Hemogram – RBC count, WBC count (Total/differential), Platelet count HbA1C estimation Hemoglobin electrophoresis DNA and RNA isolation 1.8mg EDTA/ml of blood

5. Importance of inversion of tubes Allows proper mixing of anticoagulant. An inversion is one complete turn of the wrist, 180 degrees, and back.

6. Citrate tube (Blue) 3.8% Trisodium citrate in liquid form. Binds to calcium. For Prothrombin time estimation : 1 part of citrate and 9 part of blood. (1:9) ratio. 200 microliter of citrate and 1.8 ml of blood. For ESR estimation by Westergren method – 1:4 ratio.

7. Heparin tube (Green) The walls of the tube are coated with either lithium heparin or sodium heparin Sodium results will only be 1 to 2 mmol/L higher. Lithium heparin should not be used for lithium determinations Heparin is derived from porcine intestinal mucosa. Used for karyotyping .

8. Gel tubes (Yellow) Plasma separation tubes (PST) or Serum separation tubes (SST) The gel forms a physical barrier between serum or plasma and blood cells during centrifugation. Should be centrifuged between 30 minutes to 2 hours of collection. Recentrifugation is not possible.

9. Gel tubes

10. Plain vial (Red) Does not contain any anticoagulant. May contain clot activators like kaolin. After the formation of clot, serum separates. Separation of serum is enhanced by centrifuging. CSF sample should not be collected in clot activator vial. Note: Do NOT refrigerate the blood sample.

11. Glucose vial (Grey) Sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate are used as anticoagulant. Fluoride is an inhibitor of the glycolytic enzyme enolase and thus decrease the consumption of glucose by cellular component of blood. Samples of blood glucose estimation should be processed as soon as possible.

12. Order of Draw Tietz textbook of clinical chemistry 6 th ed. P.107

13. Which of the following are wrongly coloured? Glucose HbA1C DNA isolation Complete blood count Prothrombin Time Urea Creatinine