Special issue: Responsible writing in science

In tro duc tion: Tour niquet due ve nous sta sis can al ter bo th con cen tra tion and/or ac ti vi ty of se ve ral blood ana lytes, but is ra re ly re gar ded as an is sue of la bo ra to ry va ria bi li ty. To over co me the prob lem tran sil lu mi na tion de vi ces (TD) ha ve been pro po sed for a sta si s-free phle bo to my. In this pa per the use of a TD in pla ce of tour niquet du ri ng blood col lec tion has been eva lua ted. Ma te ria ls and met ho ds: Blood was col lec ted from 250 vo lun tee rs di vi ded in fi ve ho mo ge nous grou ps of tour niquet ti mes (G1: 30 sec, G2: 60 sec, G3: 90 sec, G4: 120 sec, G5: 180 sec) and com pa red to blood ob tai ned usi ng TD. All sam ples we re ana lyzed for glu co se (GLU), total pro tein (TP), albumin (ALB), trig lyce ri des (TRIG), potas sium (K), sodium (NA), phos pha te (PHOS), cal cium (CA), alka li ne phos pha ta se (ALKP) and mag ne sium (MG). Re sul ts: In res pe ct of TD, G1 did not show sta tis ti cal ly sig ni fi ca nt in crea ses in all cli ni cal che mis try tes ts; G2 showed in crea ses for GLU, TP, ALB, TRIG, K, CA, MG and ALKP. G3 and G4, showed no sig ni fi ca nt in crea se on ly for PHOS. G5 showed sig ni fi ca nt in crea ses in all the tes ts eva lua ted. Mo reo ver, cli ni cal ly sig ni fi ca nt va ria tio ns we re ob ser ved for TP, ALB, K and CA in G2 to G5; for NA in G3 to G5; for MG in G4 and G5; for GLU, TRIG, ALKP on ly in G5. Con clu sio ns: The se re sul ts sup po rt the ap pli ca tion of TD in blood col lec tion for rou ti ne cli ni cal che mis try la bo ra to ry tes ts, sug ges ti ng its use shou ld be mo re diff u sed. Key wor ds: phle bo to my and blood col lec tion; pre ana lyti cal pha se; qua li ty ma na ge me nt system in cli ni cal la bo ra to ry; tran sil lu mi na tion; ve nous sta sis.