Specimen Collection

• Always Required: 4ml EDTA whole blood and 2.7ml Thromboexact (minimum 0.5ml)

• Thromboexact tube is used in the case of EDTA mediated platelet clumping. These sample tubes are held in the Haematology Laboratory and can be requested by phoning Haematology Laboratory xtn 22074.
• Platelet count is usually peformed as part of a Full Blood Count on an EDTA sample.
• A citrate tube will not be processed/analysed in the Haematology laboratory for a platelet count in patients with EDTA mediated platelet clumping.

Reference Intervals

see Full Blood Count.

FBC

Turnaround Time: Between 45 minutes and 2 hours
Diagnostic Use and Interpretation

The Thromboexact specimen is used when a patient has EDTA mediated platelet clumping and a true platelet count can not be obtained. The analyser gives a falsely decreased platelet count with an EDTA sample.

By using the Thromboexact tube a true platelet count can be reported. A blood film is made also from the Thromboexact specimen so an estimate can be performed to confirm the analyser count obtained from the Thromboexact specimen.

Contact Information

For further information contact the Special Haematology laboratory (Ext 22065) or:

Dr Anna Ruskova		Ext 22137
Dr Louisa Stone		Ext 22062
Dr Nikhil Rabade		Ext 22071
Dr Peter Bradbeer		Ext 22062

Last updated at 11:25:41 19/08/2024