Reliability of delayed prothrombin time INR determinations in a central laboratory using off-site blood sampling

Paul Froom*, Dora Abramova, Martha Bar-El, Mira Barak

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

A major concern of centralized anticoagulant measurements with off-site sampling is the reliability of international normalized ratio (INR) determinations on blood that may have been taken from the patient hours before the analysis. We compared INR differences in the blood of patients receiving oral anticoagulants after 24 h storage in four conditions: centrifuged at room temperature, centrifuged at 4°C, uncentrifuged at room temperature and uncentrifuged at 4°C. The INR of centrifuged and uncentrifuged blood left at room temperature for 24 h consistently increased by 6% and, after adjustment, there were no misclassifications in the assessment of the adequacy of anticoagulant treatment. Inconsistent changes were noted in tests of refrigerated centrifuged blood. We conclude that storage of blood at room temperature for 24 h results in a consistent prolongation of the prothrombin time, which after correction can reliably be used to adjust the dose of oral anticoagulants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)189-192
Number of pages4
JournalClinical and Laboratory Haematology
Volume23
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • INR
  • Off-site sampling
  • PT
  • Reliability
  • Storage

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