Specimen Requirements

Container Type: Lithium Heparin (Green Top) or Serum Separator (Gold Top) AND 24-hour Urine Container, Dark Plastic. No Additives.
Specimen Type: Plasma or Serum AND 24-hour urine collection
Preferred Volume: 1 mL plasma or serum AND 10 mL urine
Emergency Minimum Volume: 0.3 mL plasma or serum AND 1 mL urine
Patient Prep: Give patient 24 HOUR URINE COLLECTION Form # F21982 with instructions to document time and date of collection and to return it to lab with entire urine collection.
Collection Procedure: Collect a 24-hour urine in the provided 24-hour urine container. Refrigerate during collection. Collect the blood creatinine specimen when patient presents at lab. This may be collected in combination with another chemistry panel.
Specimen Processing: Separate serum or plasma from cells as soon as possible by centrifugation. Store and transport refrigerated. Aliquot 10 mL of a well-mixed 24-hour urine collection into a leakproof plastic urine container. Record collection time and total volume. Store and transport refrigerated. Centrifuge aliquots before testing.
Required Patient Info: Patient height in inches and weight in pounds, urine collection time period in hours and total volume in mL.
Alternate Specimens: Plain Serum Tube (Red Top), EDTA Plasma (Lavender Top)
Limitations: Blood should be collected within 24 hours of urine collection start or finish.

Stability: