Specimen:

Whole Blood

Collection Medium:

Minimum:

Adult minimum: 1 mL whole blood
Pediatric minimum: 0.2 mL whole blood

Delivery Instructions:

Deliver to laboratory immediately after collection.  Critical frozen.

Specimen
Instructions:

Protect from light during collection, storage, and shipment.

Analytic Time:

4 days

Reference Range:

280 - 903 ng/mL

Comments:

Hematocrit automatically included and will be charged to patient. To 
add folate to specimen already submitted for CBC, call lab within 1 
hour of specimen collection.

Low folate intake, malabsorption, pregnancy, and drugs such as 
phenytoin are causes of folate deficiency. Folate deficiency is also 
associated with chronic alcoholism. Both folate and vitamin B12 
deficiency cause macrocytic anemia. Appropriate treatment depends on 
the differential diagnosis of the deficiency. Serum folate measurement 
provides an index of folate status. However, because folate is much 
more concentrated in RBCs than in serum, RBC folate measurement more 
closely reflects tissue stores and is considered the most reliable 
indicator of folate status.

Methodology:

Chemiluminescent Immunoassay

CPT Code:

82747

See also:
Folate, Serum

See Additional Information:
Specimens Requiring Immediate Delivery