Effect of refrigeration of blood samples in lithium-heparin tubes on QuantiFERON TB Gold Plus test result. Issue 3 (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Uwamino, Yoshifumi; Sakai, Akiko; Nishimura, Tomoyasu; Noguchi, Masayo; Uno, Shunsuke; Fujiwara, Hiroshi; Mori, Masaaki; Wakui, Masatoshi; Murata, Mitsuru; Hasegawa, Naoki
• Is Part Of: Journal of infection and chemotherapy. Volume 26:Issue 3(2020:Mar.)
• Page Start: 312
• Page End: 314
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Latent tuberculosis infection -- QuantiFERON TB Gold Plus -- Sample storage -- Refrigeration; IGRA interferon gamma-releasing assay -- LTBI latent tuberculosis infection -- TB tuberculosis -- HCW health care workers -- QFT QuantiFERON -- QFT-Plus QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus -- HIV human immunodeficiency virus -- DM diabetes mellitus; Chemotherapy -- Periodicals; Infection -- Periodicals; Communicable diseases -- Chemotherapy -- Periodicals; 615.5805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2019.10.002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1341-321X

Abstract

Abstract: The QuantiFERON TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) test is a newly approved interferon-gamma releasing assay test for detecting latent tuberculosis. Although blood samples for QFT test can be refrigerated for 48 h in lithium-heparin tubes according to package inserts, no published data are available on the effects of sample refrigeration on the test results. We conducted a clinical study that aimed to elucidate whether sample refrigeration for 48 h affects QFT-Plus test results. We collected 2 blood samples each from 40 participants for QFT-Plus; one sample was refrigerated before incubation for QFT-Plus assay, while the other sample was incubated soon after collection and treated as control. After comparing QFT-Plus test results of refrigerated samples and control samples, the concordance rate and kappa coefficient between them were 95% and 0.90, respectively. Thus, blood samples for QFT-Plus test can be refrigerated for 48 h in lithium-heparin tubes without influencing the test results.