Evaluation of the Vacuum Blood Collection Tube, V-Tube, a Domestic Product for Clinical Chemistry and Thyroid Hormone Assays

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is known that the blood collection tube used can cause fluctuations in laboratory test results. We compared test results obtained when blood was collected in V-tube (AB Medical, Korea), BD Vacutainer Tubes (BD, USA), and Greiner Vacuette Tubes (Greiner, USA) in clinical chemistry and thyroid hormone assays. METHODS: One hundred volunteers from three hospitals were recruited and the peripheral blood samples were collected in each of the three serum separation tubes (SSTs). These samples were used for 28 routine clinical chemistry assays and three thyroid hormone assays. The results were analyzed by the Student paired t-test and the Bland-Altman plot. For stability tests, the initial results were compared with the day 1 (24±2 hours), day 3 (72±2 hours), and day 7 (168±2 hours) results, respectively. RESULTS: The difference in the test results obtained from the samples in each tube (V-Tube vs. BD-Tube, V-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube, and BD-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube) were satisfied with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 allowable difference ranges. Except for four analytes (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, magnesium, potassium, and thyroid-stimulating hormone), all analytes were within the allowable critical difference range based on biological variability. The paired t-test revealed significant differences between the results of nine assays for samples in V-Tube vs. BD-Tube and seven assays for samples in V-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube, but each set of results showed good correlations. The test results on different days showed a significant difference in several assays, but they were within the allowable difference range. CONCLUSIONS: The assay results for blood samples collected in SST V-Tubes were comparable to those obtained when blood was collected in BD Tubes and Greiner Tubes, and the blood collected in V-Tubes also showed excellent results in the stability tests.