Impact of Centrifugation Time Reduction in GLP Systems

Centrifugation of specimens is an important pre-analytical process that significantly impacts turnaround time, enabling clinicians to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients more effectively. In this study, we verified different combinations of tubes and identified optimal centrifugation settings for chemical and immunological assays.

We evaluated 40 leftover blood samples and collected them in 4-mL vacutainer and 2-mL vacuette lithium heparin tubes. All the tubes were centrifuged using an Abbott Automation GLP system. The first set of samples was centrifuged according to the manufacturer's guidelines. The second and third sets of samples were centrifuged at 2700×g for 7 and 5 min, respectively. All samples were analyzed through 30 chemical and 9 immunological assays on Alinity ci analyzers. The allowable total error, paired t-test, slope, intercept, and correlation coefficient (R) were used to determine the significance of differences in the first set of samples.

Centrifugations for 7 and 5 min at 2700×g were within the acceptable range from the manufacturer's protocol after testing 39 assays in both vacutainer and vacuette lithium heparin tubes, except for LDH that was centrifuged for 5 min at 2700×g.

Shorter centrifugation times (7 min at 2700×g) can be used for different tube combinations. Centrifugation for 5 min at 2700×g affected LDH assays in vacutainer and vacuette lithium heparin tubes.