Within 1 day
Turnaround time is defined as the usual number of days from the date of pickup of a specimen for testing to when the result is released to the ordering provider. In some cases, additional time should be allowed for additional confirmatory or additional reflex tests. Testing schedules may vary.
Serum (preferred) or plasma
1 mL
0.2 mL (Note: This volume does not allow for repeat testing.)
Gel-barrier tube, transport tube, green-top (heparin) tube, or lavender-top (EDTA) tube
Separate serum or plasma from cells within 45 minutes of collection.
Maintain specimen at room temperature.
Temperature
Period
Room temperature
7 days
Refrigerated
14 days
Frozen
Freeze/thaw cycles
Stable x2
Gross hemolysis; improper labeling; gross lipemia
Evaluate diabetic control, reflecting diabetic control over a shorter time period (one to three weeks) than that represented by hemoglobin A1c (four to eight weeks). Indicated as an index of longer-term control than glucose levels, especially in diabetic subjects with abnormal hemoglobins and in type 1 diabetes in children.1
Colorimetric
Fructosamine is found in the plasma of both normal and diabetic individuals. “Fructosamine” is the term used to describe proteins that have been glycated (ie, are derivatives of the nonenzymatic reaction product of glucose and albumin). It has been advocated as an alternative test to hemoglobin A1c for the monitoring of long-term diabetic control. Fructosamine and hemoglobin A1c do not measure exactly the same thing, since fructosamine has a shorter half-life and appears to be more sensitive to short-term variations in glucose levels; however, this is not necessarily a disadvantage. Fructosamine is clearly superior in patients with abnormal hemoglobins because of the interference of abnormal hemoglobins in the anion-exchange chromatography methods for Hb A1c. Published reference interval for apparently healthy subjects between age 20 and 60 is 205-285 µmol/L and in a poorly-controlled diabetic population is 228-563 µmol/L with a mean of 396 µmol/L.
