Blood collection tube additives are the core raw materials in blood collection tubes, and their quality directly determines whether the clinical test can be performed in time, the accuracy of the test results and the reliability of the diagnosis results. As a manufacturer of blood collection tube additives, Desheng has the responsibility and obligation to provide customers and patients with additives of stable quality to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the test results.
In the past, separation gel was mainly used for serum biochemical testing, that is, separation gel and blood coagulant were used in conjunction. With the development of blood collection tube technology and inspection requirements, more and more blood collection tubes have begun to use separating gel test tubes. At present, there are blood collection tubes (separation gel + potassium salt anticoagulation tube), electrolyte test tubes (separation gel + heparin salt), blood coagulation test tubes (separation gel + sodium citrate) and other varieties of blood collection tubes that use separation gel. These aspects have driven the increasing use of separating glue. But in the process of using it will always encounter various problems.
A. Difficulty in adding glue: mainly because the temperature is too low. In winter, the temperature drops, the weather is cold, and the viscosity of the separating glue increases, making the process of adding glue more difficult. On the one hand, adding glue in winter is solved by heating. Separating glue generally can withstand high temperatures below 80°C without any problem. Now many equipment manufacturing companies' glue adding machines are equipped with heating function, which provides solutions for blood collection enterprises. In addition, some problems can be solved by reducing the viscosity of the separating glue, but it is not a fundamental solution.
B. Flowing: After the separation glue is added, when the test tube is placed flat, the separation glue flowing distance will be too large, and some even flow to the nozzle of the tube. This is because the intermolecular chemical forces of the separating glue have not been fully recovered during the process of adding glue, and the network state has not been formed. The first solution is to increase the thixotropy of the separating glue, but it will cause difficulty in adding glue; the second is to put it upright for a few hours, and then lay it flat after the thixotropy of the separating glue recovers.
C. Bubble problem: After adding glue and vacuuming, bubbles will appear in the separating glue, or bubbles will also appear after irradiation sterilization. This is because the separation glue clamps air invisible to the naked eye during the glue adding process. After being heated under vacuum or irradiation sterilization, the air in the separation glue slowly expands and becomes visible bubbles. In the process of separating glue production and adding glue, it is necessary to reduce air entrapment in the separating glue as much as possible.
D. The problem that the separation gel does not turn over: Some separation gel blood collection tubes will not turn over clinically, usually because the centrifugal force is not enough, or the centrifugation time is not enough. Increasing the centrifugal force or prolonging the centrifugal time will basically solve the problem. There are also some separation glues that do not turn over due to factors such as aging, which is a quality problem of the separation glue.
E. Flip the separating gel to the serum: This is caused by the too small specific gravity of the separating gel. In recent years, this situation has basically not occurred. Our company once caused this situation due to detection errors around 2010, which caused great problems to customers and the company suffered a lot.
F. Detector alarm: The alarm problem of separation gel blood collection tube often occurs in clinical testing.
In the past, the industry always thought that it was caused by the oil droplets or fragments of the separating glue. After years of tracking and analysis, we have found the root cause of this problem. The alarm of the instrument is usually centrifuged under the condition of incomplete blood coagulation, causing the fibrin filaments to float in the serum. When the probe is aspirated, the fibrin filaments are sucked into the probe, causing the instrument to block and alarm.
