Specimen Requirements

Submit only 1 of the following specimens:

Preferred

Specimen Type: Serum
Container/Tube: Gold-top serum gel-Red top is
acceptable
Specimen Volume: 5 mL

Specimen Minimum Volume: 1 mL

Alternate

Specimen Type: Plasma
Container/Tube: Green top (heparin)-Mint-top plasma gel is acceptable

Specimen Volume: 5 mL

Specimen Minimum Volume: 1 mL

Special collection instructions (Elitek):

Please note:  If the patient is on the medication Elitek (Rasburicase), the following collection
instructions apply:

The drug Elitek (Rasburicase) is used for leukemia and lymphoma  patients on chemotherapy.  When the
chemotherapy kills the cells, a breakdown product of all the nuclear cellular material is uric acid.   The uric         acid levels can get high enough to cause kidney damage.  The drug Elitek causes the uric acid to break down to a harmless substance (allantoin).  Therapy on these patients is closely monitored by  performing multiple uric acid
levels. What this means for the lab:          

The drug continues to break down uric acid after the sample has been drawn.  This can cause falsely low results. For this reason, there  are special sample handling requirements for these  uric acid levels:         

1)      Draw in a prechilled green top (non gel) tube.                        
2)      Put on ice immediately and transport to ice in lab.                   
3)      Centrifuge in refrigerated centrifuge (temp set to 4C) behind accession.
4)      Separate plasma and keep on ice until tested. Must be tested within 4  hours when kept on ice.