1

Question 1

what do yellow topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 1

contains the anticoagulant sodium polyanethol sulfonate (SPS) that reduces that activity of antibiotics in the blood, thus enhancing the chance of finding microbes

OR

acid citrate dextrose to preserve blood for donation or specialty blood banking

Question 2

what do culture vials contain and what are they used for?

Answer 2

they contain culture media to detect microbes in the blood

Question 3

what do light blue topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 3

they contain the anticoagulant, sodium citrate for coagulation determinations such as PT and APTT

very important to fill the tube at the specified line, too little will elongate the coagulation while too much will shorten it

Question 4

what do gold/red-gray topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 4

these are the serum separation tubes (SST) that contain a polymer barrier which will separate the serum from the blood clot after centrifuging

Question 5

what do orange topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 5

these are rapid serum tubes that contain thrombin that will complete the clotting of the blood quickly and is used for STAT requests

Question 6

what do red topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 6

they do not contain anticoagulation or a polymer barrier and they are used for the collection of serum, these will form a clot.

it may have the clot activator silica.

Question 7

what do green topped tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 7

these contain either sodium heparin, ammonium heparin, or lithium heparin (all anticoagulants) and may have a barrier gel to separate the plasma from the clot.

sodium heparin should not be used for tests measuring for sodium and the same for lithium.

can be used for STAT requests since you don’t need to wait for a clot to form

Question 8

what do lavender tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 8

these contain potassium or sodium EDTA anticoagulant and are used for most hematology procedures like CBC and analyzes whole blood.

keeps cell morphology intact

used in later draws because of the potential of the potassium or sodium contamination affecting other tubes.

Question 9

what do pink tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 9

contain the anticoagulant potassium EDTA and it used for blood banking

Question 10

what do gray tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 10

either contain 1. potassium oxalate and sodium fluoride 2. sodium EDTA and sodium fluoride 3. sodium fluoride

sodium fluoride is the glycolytic inhibitor that prevents glycolysis (the breakdown of glucose by blood cells). used for glucose determinations

Question 11

what do tan tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 11

contains EDTA and is used for lead testing

Question 12

what do royal blue tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 12

contain EDTA and is used for toxicology and nutritional studies

Question 13

what do black tubes contain and what are they used for?

Answer 13

contains sodium citrate and used for erythrocyte sedimentation rate