Request for Uric Acid Analysis on an Iced Specimen.

CASE DESCRIPTION During second shift, a green-top specimen was received on ice with a request for uric acid determination. The young processing technician, unfamiliar with this situation, asked a supervisor why the specimen came down on ice. After the ordering provider was contacted, it was determined that a 9-year-old female with lymphoblastic lymphoma was being treated with rasburicase to mitigate potential development of tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) during chemotherapy. Key serum chemistries are shown in Table 1.