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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2023; 15(04): 578-582
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1769762
Original Article

Comparative Evaluation of Serum Lithium Estimation Using Plain Glass Vial and Serum Clot Activator Vacutainer by Reflectance Photometry

Prabesh Kumar Sahu
1   All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Sibasish Sahoo 
2   Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Namrata Chatterjee
2   Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Jitendra Majhi
3   Department of Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Atanu Kumar Dutta
2   Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Kalyan Goswami
2   Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
,
Amit Pal
2   Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
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Abstract

Introduction The collection of blood samples in different vacutainers can affect the result of serum lithium estimation due to the presence of distinct additives in the blood collection vacutainer for enhancing the clot formation process. Due to the low therapeutic index and threat of toxicity of lithium, it is imperative to correctly report the test result. Thus, it has become a challenge for the laboratory physician to estimate lithium in any clinical laboratory setup.

Materials and Methods Sample of 100 patients were collected and paired into clot activator vacutainers and plain glass vials. After centrifugation, samples from the paired collection tubes were processed immediately for serum lithium estimation by VITROS 4600 analyzer working on the principle of reflectance photometry. Both the paired tubes were stored at 2 to 8°C and were further analyzed, at 24 and 48 hours, respectively, from the time of their collection. The statistical analysis was done in IBM SPSS software version 23.

Results There was a statistically significant differences between the mean of lithium values when processed within 1st hour of collection, obtained from clot activator vacutainers in comparison to glass vials. However, within tube comparison, there was no statistical difference in the lithium values estimated at 1st hour, 24 hours, and 48 hours of collection.

Conclusion In this study, lithium values measured by clot-activated vacutainers are found to be lower as compared with values measured through glass vials.

Keywords

lithium - blood collection vacutainer - reflectance photometry

Authors' Contributions

All the authors have equally contributed to the accomplishing of the study.




Publication History

Received: 24 March 2023

Accepted: 04 May 2023

Article published online:
13 June 2023

© 2023. The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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