Specimen:

Plasma

Collection Medium:

Alternate
Collection Media:

Call laboratory for additional acceptable specimen collection 
containers.

Minimum:

2 ml whole blood in light green top tube or one 0.6 ml microtube

Testing
Schedule:

24 hrs/day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

Analytic Time:

2 hours (upon receipt in laboratory)

Reference Range:

50-100 mcg/ml

Critical value: >150 mcg/ml

Test
Limitations:

Criterion: recovery plus or minus 3.0 µg/ml of initial value at 
concentrations less than 30 ug/ml or plus or minus 10% of initial value 
at concentrations greater than 30 ug/ml.

Icterus: No significant interference from bilirubin up to an I index of 
60 (approximate bilirubin concentration: 60 mg/dl).

Hemolysis: No significant interference from hemoglobin up to an H index 
of 1000 (approximate hemoglobin concentration: 1000 mg/dl).

Lipemia (Intralipid): No significant interference up to an L index of 
1000 (approximate triglycerides concentration: 2000 mg/dl). There is 
poor correlation between turbidity and triglycerides concentration.

No significant interference from total protein up to 10 g/dl, IgA up to
790 mg/dl, IgG up to 4300 mg/dl, IgM up to 840 mg/dl and rheumatoid 
factor up to 200 IU/ml.

The incidence of patients with antibodies to E. coli beta-galactosidase 
is extremely low. However, some samples containing such antibodies can 
result in artificially high valproic acid results that do not fit the 
clinical profile. If this occurs, contact Customer Technical Support.

As with any assay employing mouse antibodies, the possibility exists 
for interference by human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA) in the sample, 
which could cause falsely elevated results.

Methodology:

EIA (Enzymatic ImmunoAssay)

Sample
Processing:

Centrifuge at 3000 RPM for 10 minutes.
Aliquot plasma into labeled container and cap.

Sample
Storage:

Room temperature or refrigerate if stored overnight, weekends or 
holidays.

Transport
Instructions:

Place specimen into zip-lock type bag, seal bag.
Place requisition into outside pocket of bag.
Ship ambient or refrigerate.

CPT Code:

80164

See Additional Information:
Chemistry Critical Lab Values