Specimen Required

Patient Preparation:  High concentrations of gadolinium and iodine are known to potentially interfere with most inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry-based metal tests. If either gadolinium- or iodine-containing contrast media has been administered, a specimen should not be collected for 96 hours.

Supplies:

-Metal Free Specimen Vial (T173)

-Metal Free B-D Tube (No Additive), 6 mL (T184)

Collection Container/Tube: Plain, royal blue-top Vacutainer plastic trace element blood collection tube

Submission Container/Tube: 7-mL Metal-free, screw-capped, polypropylene vial

Specimen Volume: 0.55 mL Serum

Collection Instructions:

1. Allow specimen to clot for 30 minutes; then centrifuge the specimen to separate serum from the cellular fraction.

2. Remove the stopper. Carefully pour specimen into a metal-free, polypropylene vial, avoiding transfer of the cellular components of blood. Do not insert a pipet into the serum to accomplish transfer, and do not ream the specimen with a wooden stick to assist with serum transfer.

3. See Metals Analysis Specimen Collection and Transport for complete instructions.