Have you ever questioned what makes the tube used for collecting your blood for a blood test so unique? And why is it a distinct color? They are specialized vacutainers, which are vacuum-sealed cylinders.
Glass tubes with rubber stoppers called vacutainer blood collection tubes are used to extract a predetermined amount of fluid or blood. Different colors are used to categorize them based on the additive contained in the tube and the tube's intended use.
| Color | Additives | Intended Use |
| Red | No additives | Immunology, Serological tests |
| Light Blue | Sodium Citrate | Coagulation tests |
| Royal blue | EDTA | trace elements, heavy metals, toxicology |
| Gold | Serum Separating Gel and Clot activator | All biochemistry test |
| Dark green | Sodium Heparin | Prevent clotting, chromosome testing,HLA typing, Ammonia |
| Purple/ Lavender | EDTA | Blood tying and crossmatching,Direct comb's test for autoimmune haemolytic anemia,HIV viral test, |
| Yellow | Acid citrate dextrose | tissue typing, DNA studies, Blood culture |
| Gray | Sodium Fluoride | Glucose , blood alcohol, lactate |
The blood or fluid may become unstable for the planned tests if the incorrect tube is used. A blood collection tube loses its effectiveness over time because the vacuum is gone and blood collection ends up being unachievable.
Given your knowledge of the various Vacutainer tubes, QV Medical Supplies offers various blood collection tubes you can purchase online and use for you intended testing. Check our catalog for more details