Phlebotomy Collection Tube Colors

Front 1

Glass Red Top / Glass Red Tiger Top

Back 1

Additive: Plain Top - None, Tiger Top - clot activator, gel

Mode of Action: Blood clots, and the serum is seperated by centrifugation (SST)

Uses: Chemistries, Immunology and Serology

Front 2

Plastic Red Top

Back 2

Additive: clot activator

Mode of Action: Blood clots, and the serum is seperated by centrifugation

Uses: Chemistries, Immunology and Serology

Front 3

Yellow SST / Gold Top

Back 3

Additive: clot activator, polymer gel

Mode of Action: Serum separator tube (SST) contains a gel at the bottom to separate blood from serum on centrifugation

Uses: Chemistries, Immunology and Serology

Front 4

Light Green Top

Back 4

Additive: Plasma Separating Tube (PST) with Lithium Heparin

Mode of Action: Anticoagulates with lithium heparin; plasma is separated with PST gel at the bottom of the tube.

Uses: Chemistries; STAT ER chemistry tests

Front 5

Purple / Lavender Top

Back 5

Additive: EDTA

Mode of Action: Anticoagulant; inhibits the clotting process by removing calcium from the blood

Uses: Hematology (CBC, lipid panel, platelet counts, etc)

Front 6

Light Blue Top

Back 6

Additive: Buffered Sodium Citrate

Mode of action: anticoagulant; forms calcium salts (ratio of 1 part Na Citrate to 9 parts blood)

Uses: Coagulation tests (protime and prothrombin time), FULL DRAW required.

Front 7

Green Top

Back 7

Additive: Sodium heparin or lithium heparin

Mode of Action: Inactivates thrombin and thromboplastin

Uses: For lithium level, use sodium heparin. For ammonia level, use sodium or lithium heparin.

Front 8

Dark Blue Top

Back 8

Additive: can be ordered with either heparin, EDTA
or no additive inside it

Mode of Action: Tube is designed to contain no contaminating metals.

Uses: Trace element testing (zinc, copper, lead, mercury) and toxicology.

Front 9

Light Gray Top

Back 9

Additive: Sodium flouride and potassium oxalate

Mode of Action: Antiglycolytic agent preserves glucose up to 5 days

Uses: Glucoses - require FULL DRAW (may cause hemolysis if short draw); possibly alcohol levels; NEVER DRAW ANOTHER TUBE AFTER THIS ONE

Front 10

Yellow Top (glass)

Back 10

Additive: ACD (acid-citrate-dextrose)

Mode of action: complement inactivation (helps pathogens survive longer)

Uses: microbiology, DNA and viral load tests

Front 11

Yellow-Black Top

Back 11

Additive: Broth mixture

Mode of action: Preserves viability of microorganisms.

Uses: Microbiology-aerobes, aneaerobes, fungi

Front 12

Black Top (Glass)

Back 12

Additive: Sodium citrate (buffered)

Mode of action: anticoagulant; forms calcium salts

Uses: Westergren Sedimentation Rate; requires FULL DRAW

Front 13

Orange Top

Back 13

Additive: Thrombin

Mode of Action: Quickly clots blood

Uses: STAT serum chemistries

Front 14

Light Brown Top

Back 14

Additive Sodium heparin

Mode of Action: Inactivates thrombin and thromboplastin; Contains virtually no lead.

Uses: Serum Lead determination

Front 15

Pearl Top

Back 15

Additive: Potassium EDTA

Mode of Action: Anticoagulant; inhibits the clotting process by removing calcium from the blood

Uses: Molecular/viral load testing such as HIV

Front 16

Pink Top

Back 16

Additive: Potassium EDTA

Mode of Action: Anticoagulant; inhibits the clotting process by removing calcium from the blood

Uses: Puget Sound Blood Bank (Crossmatch); requires FULL DRAW-invert 8 times to prevent clotting and platelet clumping.

Front 17

What does marbling on the stopper indicate?

Back 17

tube contains gel

Front 18

Discard Tube

Back 18

Additive: none

Uses: To remove dead air from butterfly tubing or clear out skin cells and tissue fluid