Key result
Using BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes reduced false-positive immunoassay results compared to standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tubes, which had a 10.8% false-positive rate for troponin I.
Why the study?
Does blood collection using BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes reduce false-positive immunoassay results compared to standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tubes in patients evaluated for suspected myocardial infarction?
Observational
Does blood collection using BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes reduce false-positive immunoassay results compared to standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tubes in patients evaluated for suspected myocardial infarction?
Using rapid serum tubes instead of standard plasma separator tubes reduces false-positive troponin I and other immunoassay results in patients evaluated for suspected myocardial infarction.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Rapid serum tubes may reduce false-positive troponin I results; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
We investigated the use of serum samples from BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes (RSTs; BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ) to reduce undetermined interferences contributing to false-positive immunoassay results in heparin plasma samples. Patients being evaluated for suspected myocardial infarction had specimens drawn into an RST in addition to the standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tube (PST). We measured 28 separate analytes in both specimens using immunoassay, electrochemical, and spectrophotometric methods. Higher results were observed in some PST specimens tested for troponin I, creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme, human chorionic gonadotropin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone. These discrepancies were investigated by repeating analyses after recentrifugation of both specimens. Reanalysis gave results for the PST specimens that were lower and agreed well with initial results from RSTs, suggesting false-positive rates of 10.8% for troponin I and about 2% for each of the other 3 analytes. Overall, specimens collected in RSTs had fewer false-positive immunoassay results than specimens collected in plasma separator tubes.
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Strathmann et al. (2011) conducted an observational in Suspected myocardial infarction. BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes (RSTs) vs. Standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tube (PST) was evaluated on False-positive immunoassay results. Using BD Vacutainer rapid serum tubes reduced false-positive immunoassay results compared to standard lithium-heparin plasma separator tubes, which had a 10.8% false-positive rate for troponin I.
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