ANTI-COAGULANTS

SGT
 VACCUTAINER

• Blood collection tube  

• Sterile glass or plastic test tube with a colored rubber stopper

• Vacuum seal inside of the tube, facilitating the drawing of a predetermined

volume of liquid.

• May contain additives designed to stabilize and preserve the specimen prior to
analytical testing

• Safety-engineered stopper, with a variety of labeling options and draw volumes.

• The color of the top indicates the additives in the vial.

 ORDER OF DRAW

• Sequence in which tubes should be filled

• The needle which pierces the tubes can carry additives from one tube into the next

• Sequence is standardized so that any cross-contamination of additives will not affect

laboratory results.
1. Culture tube
2. Sodium citrate vial (Blue) - PT/INR
3. Plain tube (Red)
4. SST (gold) tube- LFT, TFT,RFT
5. Heparin tube ( light green)
6. EDTA (Lavender)
7. Sodium flouride (grey)
 ADVANTAGES OF VACCUTAINERS

ACCURACY

• Calibrated to fill to the specified amount needed

• Reduce the necessity of repeat sticks to get enough blood for testing

• Each tube is pre-filled with the appropriate amount of additive, reducing the likelihood that
the dilution will be inaccurate

EFFICIENCY

• Effective when multiple samples are required

• Multiple tubes can be inserted and filled.

SAFETY

• draws blood into the tubes at a safe speed, reducing the risk of hemolysis

• closed system which reduces the risk of spilled blood

• protecting the phlebotomist from inadvertent exposure to blood-born pathogens.

 EDTA (LAVENDER TUBE)

EDTA –Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) is used in 3 forms –as disodium, dipotassium
or tri potassium salts

Dipotassium EDTA is used as anticoagulant and is recommended for haematology

MECHANISM OF ACTION:

prevent
chelating binds to EDTA- Ca
EDTA coagulation
agent calcium complex
of blood
 USES OF EDTA

• CBC

• Peripheral smear examination

• Reticulocyte counts

• Immunophenotyping of cells by flow cytometry

 ADVANTAGES OF EDTA

• Preserves the morphology of blood cell structure

• Best anticoagulant for peripheral blood smear studies

• It produces less shrinkage of RBCs

 DISADVANTAGES OF EDTA

• Increased concentration, if used causes shrinkage of RBC.

• Inhibits ALP, creatinine kinase, leucine aminopeptidase activities.

• Not suitable for calcium and iron estimation.

EDTA VIAL PREPARATION

Take EDTA anticoagulant powder

Prepare 10% EDTA solution by adding

10g of EDTA powder in 100 ml distilled
water.

Collect 1ml of blood, 10 μl of this

solution is added to the collection tube

Or Powder form – 1.5 mg is used to

anticoagulate 1 ml of blood
 SODIUM CITRATE (LIGHT BLUE TUBE)

• It is a hydroscopic crystalline powder

• Converted to 3.2% trisodium citrate in liquid form

• MECHANISM OF ACTION:

forms prevent
Sodium chelating binds to
complexes coagulation
citrate agent calcium
with Calcium of blood
 USES:

• Coagulation studies

• ESR by Westergren method

 PREPARATION OF SOLUTION

Anticoagulant:Blood
PT/ aPTT estimation
1:9 Ratio
Mix 3.8 gm of Na
citrate powder in
100ml distilled water
Anticoagulant:Blood
ESR estimation
1:4 Ratio
 HEPARIN (GREEN TUBE)

• Lithium heparin – recommended salt of heparin

• 15-30 units heparin/mL blood

• MECHANISM OF ACTION:

Interacts prevent
Inhibition of
Heparin with coagulation
thrombin
antithrombin of blood
 USES OF HEPARIN

• Ammonia

• Carboxyhemoglobin

• Blood gases

• Zinc

• Electrolytes ( sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate )

• Osmotic fragility test

 DISADVANTAGES OF HEPARIN

• Affect platelets and WBCs, causing them to clump

• Morphologic destruction of platelets and WBCs

• Bluish discolouration in the background of blood films stained with

Romanowsky stains
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLASMA AND SERUM

The key difference between plasma and serum is

that the plasma consists of clotting factors while

the serum is devoid of the clotting factors.