Specimen Collection And Preparation; General Preparation; Figure 3-1. Sample Vial Barcode Location - Hitachi OPTIGEN AP3600 User Manual

Specimen Collection and Preparation

Handle all patient samples as recommended for any potentially infectious human sera or blood specimens.
Follow universal precautions or other guidelines as established by your institution when handling patient specimens.
1. Collect a venous blood sample into a serum separator vial or red-top vial. The patient need not be fasting, and no special
preparations are necessary. Gently invert the serum collection vial 3-5 times and label the vial with the patient's name and draw
2.
date. Note: Hemolyzed or lipemic serum may adversely affect the performance of the AP3600 OPTIGEN assay.
3. Allow blood to clot at room temperature in the original stoppered container for up to two hours or until coagulation occurs.
4. Centrifuge clotted blood for 10-20 minutes at 2000-3000 x g or 2500-3600 rpm in the original stoppered container.
5. Transfer serum from centrifuge vial to an appropriately labeled, clean plastic storage vial. Serum may be stored at 2-8°C for up to one
week.
Note: For longer storage, store samples frozen at -20°C. Repeated freezing and thawing of sera should be avoided. Frozen sera
that has been thawed should be thoroughly mixed before centrifugation.
6. After removal from storage and immediately prior to performing the assay, re-centrifuge the serum for 10-20 minutes at
2000-3000 x g.
7. The minimum volume of patient serum needed for a single pette test is 700 uL. Note: The sample volume
requirement is based on a Ø13 x 100 mm tube.

General Preparation

Sample Vial Preparation
1. The following sample vial sizes can be used with the AP3600 Instrument:

•
16 x 100 mm

•
13 x 100 mm

•
13 x 75 mm
2. Affix barcode labels to the sample vials so the labels are visible through the rack as shown in Figure 3-1.
•
For a 100 mm tube, attach label 30 mm below the top of the tube.
•
For a 75 mm tube, attach label 5 mm below the top of the tube.

FIGURE 3-1. Sample Vial Barcode Location

3. The barcode labels should meet the following specifications:
•
1D Barcode Label
•
Label Size
•Length: 40 mm
•Width: 12 mm
•
Quiet Zone
•Both right and left side required
•At least 10 times the minimum element width
•
Symbol Zone Length
•Label Width minus the Quiet Zone Width
•
2D Barcode Label
3-2
Sample Preparation