Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, HDL, VLDL, LDL, Total cholesterol:HDL ratio
State the patient's age and sex on the test request form.
Within1 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.
For more information, please view the literature below.
Spanning the Continuum of Cardiovascular Care
Clinical Lipid Panel Selection Table
Technical Review: Calculating Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Equation
Serum (preferred) or plasma
1 mL
0.7 mL (Note: This volume does not allow for repeat testing.)
Red-top tube, gel-barrier tube, or green-top (lithium heparin) tube. Do not use oxalate, EDTA, or citrate plasma.
Separate serum or plasma from cells within 45 minutes of collection. Lipid panels are best avoided for three months following acute myocardial infarction, although cholesterol can be measured in the first 24 hours.
Room temperature; if arrival at lab will extend beyond three days, then refrigerate.
Temperature
Period
Room temperature
3 days
Refrigerated
14 days
Frozen
Freeze/thaw cycles
Stable x2
Patient should be on a stable diet, ideally for two to three weeks prior to collection of blood. Fasting is not necessary for this profile; however, fasting for 12 to 14 hours prior to collection of the specimen is recommended where the triglyceride value provides a priori diagnostic information such as screening for familial hypercholesterolemia or early onset heart disease, pancreatitis, or confirming hypertriglyceridemia.
Evaluation of hyperlipidemia as an index to coronary artery disease. Investigation of serum lipids is indicated in those with coronary and other arterial disease, especially when it is premature, and in those with family history of atherosclerosis or of hyperlipidemia. In this sense, the expression “premature” is mostly used to include those younger than 40 years of age.
Patients with obstructive liver disease may develop lipoprotein abnormalities. Serum lipid factors have not been demonstrated to have a strong influence on recurrent stenosis following coronary angioplasty, the pathogenesis of which is presently not well understood. LDL cholesterol cannot be calculated if triglyceride is >800 mg/dL.
Enzymatic
Patients with xanthomas should be worked up with lipid panels, but not those with xanthelasmas or xanthofibromas in the sense of dermatofibromas. Those whose fasting serum is lipemic should have a lipid panel, but the serum of a subject with high cholesterol (but normal triglyceride) is not milky in appearance. The patient with high cholesterol (>240 mg/dL) should have a lipid panel. Patients with cholesterol levels between 200-240 mg/dL plus two other coronary heart disease risk factors should also have a lipid panel.1 In addition to application in screening programs for evaluation of risk factors for coronary arterial disease, lipid profiling may lead to detection of some cases of hypothyroidism.
Primary hyperlipoproteinemia includes hypercholesterolemia, a direct risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Secondary hyperlipoproteinemia includes nephrosis, renal failure, obesity, diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, primary biliary cirrhosis, and other types of cholestasis. Decreased lipids are found with some cases of malabsorption, malnutrition, and advanced liver disease. In abetalipoproteinemia, cholesterol is <70 mg/dL.
