Tubes and Additives Chapters 7

Question 1

Light blue (stopper)

Answer 1

Additive:
- Sodium citrate
Department: Coagulation

Question 2

Red “glass” (stopper)

Answer 2

Additive:
- none
Department: Chemistry, blood bank, serology, Immunology

Question 3

Red “plastic (stopper)

Answer 3

Additive:
- Clot activator
Department: Chemistry

Question 4

Red/light gray, Clear (stopper)

Answer 4

Additive:
- None
Department: NA (discard tube only)

Question 5

Red/black “Tiger”, Gold (stopper)

Answer 5

Additive:
- Clot activator and gel separator
Department: Chemistry

Question 6

Green/gray, light green (stopper)

Answer 6

Additive:
- Lithium heparin and gel separator
Department: Chemistry

Question 7

Green (stopper)

Answer 7

Additive:
- Lithium heparin
- sodium heparin
Department: Chemistry

Question 8

Lavender “purple” (stopper)

Answer 8

Additive: EDTA
Department: Hematology

Question 9

Pink (stopper)

Answer 9

Additive:
- EDTA
Department: Chemistry

Question 10

Gray (stopper)

Answer 10

Additive: 
- Sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate
- Sodium fluoride and EDTA
- Sodium fluoride
Department: Chemistry

Question 11

Orange, Gray/yellow (stopper)

Answer 11

Additive:
- Thrombin
Department: Chemistry

Question 12

Royal blue (stopper)

Answer 12

Additive: 
- None
- EDTA 
- Sodium heparin
Department: Chemistry

Question 13

Tan (stopper)

Answer 13

Additive: -
- EDTA
Department: Chemistry

Question 14

Yellow (stopper)

Answer 14

Additive:
- Sodium polyanethol sulfonate (SPS)
Department: Microbiology

OR

Additive:
- Acid citrate dextrose (ACD)
Department: Blood bank/Immunohematology

Question 15

Heparin

Answer 15

Prevents clotting by inhibiting thrombin and factor x

Question 16

Thrombin

Answer 16

A enzyme needed to covert fibrinogen into fibrin necessary for clot formation

Question 17

What are the three heparin formulations?

Answer 17

ammonium, lithium and sodium

Lithium heparin causes the least interference in chemistry testing and is the most widely used anticoagulant for plasma and whole blood chemistry tests

Question 18

Citrates

Answer 18

Prevent coagulation by binding or chelating calcium

Question 19

What is the most common citrate and why?

Answer 19

Sodium citrate

It does the best job of preserving the coagulation factors. Used for coagulation tests e.g., PT and aPTT

Question 20

What is the ratio of blood to anticoagulant in a light blue top tube

Answer 20

9:1 ratio of blood to anticoagulant

Question 21

EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid)

Answer 21

Remove calcium from the blood by binding (or chelating) it to form an insoluble salt.

Available as a spray coated di-potassium (K2EDTA) or tri-potassium (K3EDTA) salt or as liquid (K3EDTA)

Question 22

Why is spray dried EDTA used over liquid?

Answer 22

Liquid dilutes the specimen and results in lower hemoglobin values, RBC and WBC counts, platelet counts and packed cell volumes