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KMID : 0985420110330020071
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Laboratory Medicine and Quality Assurance
2011 Volume.33 No. 2 p.71 ~ p.74
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Evaluation of Alterations in Homocysteine Levels According to the Delayed Initiation Time of Centrifugation
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Ahn Hyo-Jun
Jang Hae-lim
Song Jwa-Geun
Kim Hye-Ryun
Sun Young-Kyu
Yoo Jong-Ha
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Abstract
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Background: time of centrifugation. Attempts were made to improve the processing of samples by analyzing the homocysteine levels of patients from a health promotion center, where delays in the initiation of sample centrifugation were expected because of the nature of the workload and operational procedures.
Methods: Forty healthy adults were selected for the measurement of homocysteine levels. The two samples those were obtained from each individual simultaneously and separately were designated as group A (centrifugation initiation time ≤20 minutes after blood sampling) and group B (≥2 hours). The degree of deviation from the homocysteine reference interval was also evaluated with samples from 1,134 adults who had medical check-up at a health promotion center from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010.
Results: The mean serum homocysteine level in group B was significantly higher than that of group A (12.4 vs. 10.6 μmol/L, P<0.0001). Homocysteine level increased with a mean of 19.4% when the initiation of centrifugation was delayed over 2 hours. In the 1,134 adults who had medical check-up, the numbers outside the reference interval were 334 (29.5%). Abnormal samples with homocysteine levels out of the reference interval were reduced to about 7% in July 2011 through improving sample processing to minimize delays in centrifugation initiation time.
Conclusions: Homocysteine levels rapidly increase as blood sample centrifugation is delayed. Therefore, in order to provide accurate test results immediate centrifugation of blood samples is critical.
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KEYWORD
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Homocysteine, Centrifugation, Reference interval
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