Evaluation of the Du Pont Axial Separation system

Area of Science:

• Clinical Chemistry
• Laboratory Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Preanalytical specimen handling is a critical step in laboratory diagnostics.
• Current centrifugation methods for blood separation are time-consuming.
• The Du Pont Axial Separation Technology (AST) system offers rapid, in-situ blood separation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of the Du Pont AST system for blood separation.
• To compare the accuracy of common chemistry analytes obtained using AST versus conventional methods.
• To identify any potential biases or limitations of the AST system.

Main Methods:

• Blood samples were collected using standard venipuncture into both conventional tubes and AST axial processing containers.
• Samples were processed using the AST system and conventional centrifugation.
• Paired serum and plasma samples (n=48 serum, n=50 plasma) were analyzed for common chemistry analytes.

Main Results:

• No clinically significant differences were observed for most chemistry analytes between AST and conventional methods.
• A bias in serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was noted with the AST system.
• This serum LDH bias was dependent on clot stretching and could be mitigated by horizontal clotting.

Conclusions:

• The AST system provides rapid blood separation with comparable results to conventional methods for most analytes.
• The observed serum LDH bias requires consideration and can be minimized through specific sample handling.
• The AST system has the potential to significantly reduce preanalytical specimen handling time in clinical laboratories.