Background: The type of blood collection tube affects specimen quality and laboratory results. Because plasma specimens have a shorter processing time compared to serum specimens, emergency biochemistry tests use plasma. However, serum specimens remain stable after centrifugation and show more accurate results than plasma. Therefore, a quick-clotting serum separator tube (SST) is expected to be useful for shorter turnaround times and accurate results. We evaluated a new quick-clotting SST VQ-Tube^TM (AB Medical, Korea) for clinical chemistry and thyroid hormone assays.

Methods: One hundred volunteers from four university hospitals were recruited and peripheral blood samples were collected in quick-clotting SST VQ-Tubes^TM and the commonly used SST V-Tubes^TM. The obtained specimens were used for 16 clinical chemistry assays and three thyroid hormone assays.

Results: The differences (%) in the test results obtained from the samples in each tube satisfied the allowable difference ranges (19 assays). The differences in the test results between the tubes satisfied the desired specifications for accuracy except for the glucose results (2.75%). The paired t-test revealed significant differences between the results of six assays but each set of results showed a good correlation. Samples were visually inspected for serum clarity and gel barrier integrity, and incomplete clotting reactions and hemolyzed serum were not observed.

Conclusion: The new quick-clotting VQ-Tube^TM demonstrated reliable test results compared to the commonly used SST V-Tube^TM. This quick-clotting tube will provide fast test results with adequately separated serum specimens, especially for patients who need fast tests.

背景：采血管的类型影响标本质量和实验室结果。由于与血清标本相比，血浆标本的处理时间更短，因此紧急生化测试使用血浆。然而，血清样本在离心后保持稳定，并且显示出比血浆更准确的结果。因此，快速凝固血清分离管 (SST) 有望用于缩短周转时间和获得准确结果。我们评估了用于临床化学和甲状腺激素检测的新型快速凝固 SST VQ-Tube^TM（AB Medical，韩国）。

方法：从4所大学医院招募100名志愿者，在快速凝血SST VQ-Tubes^TM和常用SST V-Tubes^TM中采集外周血样本。获得的标本用于 16 项临床化学分析和 3 项甲状腺激素分析。

结果：从每个管中的样品获得的测试结果的差异（%）满足允许的差异范围（19次测定）。除了葡萄糖结果 (2.75%) 之外，试管之间的测试结果差异满足了所需的准确度规范。配对 t 检验显示六项测定的结果之间存在显着差异，但每组结果都显示出良好的相关性。目视检查样品的血清透明度和凝胶屏障完整性，未观察到不完全的凝血反应和溶血的血清。

结论：与常用的 SST V-Tube^TM 相比，新型快速凝血 VQ-Tube^TM 表现出可靠的测试结果。这种快速凝血管将通过充分分离的血清样本提供快速检测结果，特别是对于需要快速检测的患者。