Of the flow cytometry laboratories that I have talked to, no one is reporting problems with plastic tubes, no one has standardized on plastic, and no one has done a careful comparison with glass. Laboratories are accepting specimens if received in plastic, but they are standardized on glass. One expert told me that he studied plastic tubes for BD years ago and found them to work well, but after multiple conversations with BD about the issue, I get the "I'll get back to you." One BD representative told me that BD had not tested the plastic tubes for flow cytometry. Our hematology laboratory compared glass and plastic tubes for complete blood counts and did not find problems. Tim Singleton, MD William Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak, MI >>> bunny <bunny@cotleur.com> 02/08/01 10:46PM >>> Did you get any useful replies on this issue? Our institution also switched tubes and I was wondering the same thing. (Especially since I also need to set up cultures...) "Timothy Singleton, M.D." wrote: > Our hospital is standardizing on plastic tubes for specimens. Has any flow cytometry > laboratory validated the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Vacutainer Plus tubers from > BD for routine clinical work? We perform immunophenotyping of patient tissues for > lymphoma, leukemia, immunodeficiencies, etc. > > Tim Singleton, MD > tsingleton@beaumont.edu > Chief, Analytical Cytometry > William Beaumont Hospital > Royal Oak, MI
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