The impact of pneumatic tube transport on whole blood coagulation and platelet function assays

Pneumatic tube is an attractive way to transport blood samples from the emergency department to the central laboratory facility. We aimed to investigate the impact of pneumatic tube transportation on blood samples for analysis of whole blood coagulation and platelet function. We included 21 healthy adult individuals and measured global coagulation assays by rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) and platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid (AA) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) using impedance aggregometry (ROTEM Platelet), on samples transported manually or by pneumatic tube transport. Statistical testing was performed with paired tests with post-hoc Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Our data revealed no difference in the far majority of ROTEM parameters (P > 0.003), while significantly decreased values were observed for INTEM clotting time (CT) (P = 0.002) and maximum clot firmness (MCF) including the amplitude after 10 min (A10) (P < 0.0001). No statistically significant difference was observed on impedance aggregometry results when manual transport was compared to pneumatic tube transport (P > 0.003). This study indicates that only minor and unsystematic differences between manual transport and pneumatic tube transport may be observed in ROTEM analyses, and that there is no influence from pneumatic tube transport on impedance aggregometry analyses using AA and ADP.