Laboratory of Pathology

Specimen Collection, Transport Media and Delivery

IMPORTANT!! Flow Cytometry aliquot must be FIXATIVE-FREE i.e. no formalin, no B5 fixative, no alcohol, etc. Fixation will cause cell death and is not reversible.

Specimen delivery cutoff time is 1 p.m. Monday – Friday workdays (no weekends or holidays).

Go to "After Working Hours" for alternate instructions.

Deliver to Room 3S240 / 3S238 Magnuson Center:  Blood, bone marrow, CSF, FNAs, fluid or other cell suspensions at room temperature (20 - 25C). Deliver frozen cells on dry ice.  (Do NOT place any specimen type other than blood or bone marrow in the flow cytometry drop box.)

Peripheral Blood Sodium Heparin vacutainers, Collection & Delivery

• Enter “Flow Cytometry, Blood” order in CRIS
• 18ml blood in three (3) 6ml sodium heparin green top vacutainer tubes. 
• For Absolute Lymph count < 1.0 K / uL, collect an additional 20-30ml. 
• Print labels using positive patient ID procedures (mobile SoftID station and printed Collection Label).
• Attach Collection Label (patient full name, unique identifier, date, “Peripheral Blood" or code FLOWB).
• Deliver STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to 3S240 / 3S238 at room temperature, no cold packs.

Bone Marrow aspirate Heparinized Syringe, Collection & Delivery

See also BM Aspirate collection instructions

• Go to scheduling.com to schedule BM aspirate collection.
• Enter “Flow Cytometry, Blood” order in CRIS.
• Before collection, get sodium heparinized syringe from the Pharmacy for BM aspirate collection.
• The fellow or assisting nurse must aspirate 3 - 5ml BM aspirate IMMEDIATELY into the heparinized syringe.
  Tip: Aspirate a small air bubble into syringe, cap syringe and use bubble to mix well by inverting 5 times.

• Print labels using positive patient ID procedures (mobile SoftID station and printed Collection Label).
• Attach Collection Label (patient full name, unique identifier, date, “BONE MARROW" or code FLOWM).
• Deliver STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to 3S240 /3S238 at room temperature, no cold packs.

Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) Transport media, Collection & Delivery

• Enter “Flow Cytometry, CSF” order in CRIS.

Before collection, get Flow CSF transport media tube:

• • 15ml conical tube:  Pink solution, blue cap, green label 
  • Pick up from CCR 3SW North Procedure Unit or 3SE South Day Hospital; or
  • Flow Cytometry Lab 3S240 / 3S238, Magnuson Center (call ahead 301-480-7179 or 301-480-8074).
•  
  • The fellow or assisting nurse must dispense 3 - 4ml CSF IMMEDIATELY into the CSF transport media.
  • Cap the tube and invert 5 times to mix well. 
    IMPORTANT:  Label / Deliver specimen STAT.  Half of cells are lost within hours without media.
•  
  • Collect using positive patient ID procedures (mobile SoftID station and printed Collection Label).
  • Attach Collection Label (patient full name, unique identifier, date, “CSF” or code FLOWC).
  • Deliver STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to 3S240 / 3S238 at room temperature, no cold packs.

Non-CSF Fluid, Fine Needle Aspirate or LN / Tissue Biopsy Triage in Cytopathology

See also Flow Cytometry, Other

1. All non-CSF fluids, FNAs and LN/tissue biopsies: 

• Enter “Flow Cytometry, Other” order in CRIS noting the specimen and source.
• Deliver specimen labeled with Flow Cytometry label to Flow Cytometry 3S240 / 3S238.

IMPORTANT!! Flow Cytometry aliquot must be FIXATIVE-FREE i.e. no formalin, no B5 fixative, no alcohol, etc. Fixation will cause cell death and is not reversible.

2. Specimen volume < 10mL

            Before collection, get Flow CSF transport media tube:

• 15ml conical tube: Pink solution, blue cap, green label 
• Pick up from CCR 3SW North Procedure Unit or 3SE South Day Hospital; or
• Flow Cytometry Lab 3S240, Manguson Center (call ahead 301-480-7179 or 301-480-8074).

• The fellow or assisting nurse must dispense 3 - 4ml of collected specimen IMMEDIATELY into the CSF transport media.
• Cap the tube and invert 5 times to mix well. 
  IMPORTANT:  Label / Deliver specimen STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to LP Flow Cytometry.  Half of cells are lost within hours without media.

• Print labels using positive patient ID procedures (mobile SoftID station and printed Collection Label).
• Attach Collection Label (patient full name, unique identifier, date, “<source>” or code FLOWO).
• Deliver STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to 3S240 / 3S238 at room temperature, no cold packs.

3.Specimen volume > 10mL

            Before collection, get plain container with sufficient volume for the specimen to be submitted:

• The fellow or assisting nurse must dispense the collected specimen into the plain container.
• Cap the container and seal for transport.
  IMPORTANT:  Label / Deliver specimen STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to LP Flow Cytometry.  Half of cells are lost within hours without media.

• Print labels using positive patient ID procedures (mobile SoftID station and printed Collection Label).
• Attach Collection Label (patient full name, unique identifier, date, “<source>” and code FLOWO).
• Deliver STAT or call Escort STAT pickup and delivery to 3S240 / 3S238 at room temperature, no cold packs.

Flow Cytometry Clinical Services

Specimen Ordering and Labeling

Specimen Rejection

Specimen Scheduling and Delivery

Specimen Transport Media and Delivery