Medical Blood bottles/vials colour coding || Additives || Uses

Blood bottles or vials are used to collect blood samples which in further needed in investigations procedures. We can check cell count, ESR, clotting etc. For different tests we need to remember the colour coding of these vials. There are mainly 4 vials which you are going to get in the hospital ward. We have discussed the additives, and uses of each vial.

1. Lavender blood bottle/vial
2. Red blood bottle/vial
3. Light blue blood bottle/vial
4. Light green blood bottle/vial

1. Lavender/Violet coloured blood bottles-vials :

I. Description :

This is Lavender coloured blood bottles or vial. Some people also called it violet coloured.

II. Additives :

The additive agent of this vial is – EDTA(Ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid). The main purpose of this vial is to make blood not to coagulate.

III. Uses :

1. Complete blood count (CBC)
2. MP(Malaria parasite), MPDA (microarray pooled DNA analyzer)
3. HBa1c test
4. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) Test

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2. Red coloured blood bottles-vials :

I. Description :

Red blood bottle or vial also known as Clot vial.

II. Additives :

Mostly no additives are added, sometimes powdered glass clot activator are added to this vial for making the blood to clot more.

III. Uses :

1. Sodium, Potassium
2. Urea, Creatinine
3. Serum amylase lipase
4. TSH, T3, T4
5. Dengue IgM
6. Widal test

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3. Light Blue coloured blood bottles-vials :

I. Description :

This is light blue coloured blood bottle or vial.

II. Additives :

The additive which is used here is Tri-sodium citrate.

III. Uses :

1. Prothrombin time(PT) / INR test
2. Activated partial prothrombin time (aPTT)
3. Fibrinogen thrombin time
4. Other blood coagulation time

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4. Light green coloured blood bottles-vials :

I. Description :

This is light green coloured blood bottle or vial.

II. Additives :

The additive which is used is Lithium Heparin.

III. Uses :

1. Basic metabolic pannel (BMP)
2. Comprehensive metabolic pannel (CMP)
3. Plasma determination test

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5. Grey vial :

I. Description :

This is grey vial also known as RBS Vial.

II. Additives :

Sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate is used as an Additive agent.

III. Uses :

1. Mainly used to test Random blood sugar level.

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