Collection/Processing Instructions

Patient fasting is not required, however, in conditions where triglyceride values provide a priori diagnostic information, such as screening for familial hypercholesterolemia or early onset heart disease, pancreatitis, or confirming hypertriglyceridemia, the patient should be counseled to fast 12 to 14 hours prior to blood draw.

Collect specimen in plain red-top, green-top (heparin-no gel), or lavender-top (EDTA-no gel) tubes. Serum or plasma drawn in gel-barrier collection tubes should not be used.  Gently invert tube 8 to 10 times to mix contents and allow specimen to clot for 30 minutes upright at room temperature prior to centrifugation (Plasma tubes should not clot). Centrifuge specimen within two hours of collection at 1800xg for 10 to 15 minutes to separate serum/plasma from the red cells and to avoid red cell contamination during shipment. If the sample cannot be centrifuged immediately, the sample should be refrigerated (at 2C to 8C) and centrifuged within 24 hours of collection.  Note: Centrifuging the specimen while still cold may negatively affect the migration of the gel to the serum/red cell interface and may increase the likelihood of specimens being contaminated with red cells during shipment. All specimens should be centrifuged by the client prior to shipment to Labcorp to ensure sample integrity.  Immediately after centrifugation, pipette separated red-top serum or green-top/lavender-top plasma into a transport tube and label accordingly (serum, heparin plasma, EDTA plasma). Keep samples refrigerated until shipment to the laboratory and ship with frozen cool packs.   Do not store at room temperature. Do not freeze the sample.