Preanalytical effects of pneumatic tube transport on routine haematology, coagulation parameters, platelet function and global coagulation

Background: Pneumatic tube transport of blood samples reduces turnaround times and labour. However, the preanalytical effects on new clinical chemistry parameters and instruments are not fully known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pneumatic tube transport on haematology and coagulation parameters, including platelet function with PFA-100 (R), and global coagulation with a thromboelastograph. Methods: Paired venous blood samples from healthy volunteers were obtained before and after 1 week of treatment with acetylsalicylic acid. One sample was transported by pneumatic tube transport, while the other remained in the laboratory. Results: No preanalytical effect of pneumatic tube transport could be seen for most haematology and coagulation parameters, as well as analysis with PFA-100 (R). For the thromboelastographic analysis, time to clot formation was shorter (-16%, p=0.037) in the transported samples. Treatment with acetylsalicylic acid had no effect on the majority of the test results. Conclusions: Pneumatic tube transport does not introduce preanalytical errors when transporting samples for analysis of routine haematology, coagulation parameters and platelet function with the PFA-100 (R). We recommend manual transport of samples for analysis with thromboelastographic techniques.