Preferred Specimen(s) 2 mL plasma collected in an EDTA (lavender-top) tube
Instructions Separate plasma from cells by centrifugation within six hours of collection and transfer the plasma to a separate plastic screw-cap vial. Ship frozen.
Transport Container Plastic screw-cap vial
Transport Temperature
- Refrigerated 7 days,
- Frozen 35 days
Reject Criteria
- Received room temperature
- Received thawed
- Serum
- Heparinized plasma
- Received frozen PPT (white-top) tubes
- Unspun PPT tube
Methodology Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)
Clinical Significance This test is useful in the monitoring of therapy and disease progression.