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Test Code SYNOVIAL Synovial Fluid Cell Count and Differential

Specimen and Container/Tube

Specimen Type: Synovial Fluid

Preferred Specimen: lavender top

Other Acceptable specimens: sterile container or green top sodium heparin is acceptable for synovial fluid only

Specimen Stability

Storage Temperature

Stability

Room temperature

(20 - 25°C)

 4 hours 

Refrigerated

(2 - 10°C)

 24 hours 

Frozen

(-20°C)

not acceptable

Collection Instructions

Collect specimen per standard laboratory collection procedures. 

Specimen Handling and Transport Instructions

 

UCMC Onsite Instructions: Collect specimen per standard collection procedure and send to laboratory immediately.

 

UCMC Offsite and UC MedLab Outreach Instructions: Collect specimen per standard collection procedure and send to laboratory immediately. Specimens must be received within 4 hours. If transport is delayed, refrigerate specimens prior to transport. 

Rejection Criteria

  • Common specimen rejected situations include: incorrect specimen type, insufficient volume, missing or incomplete specimen identifiers, incorrect specimen transport, or specimens outside stability limits. 
  • Frozen or heated specimens will be rejected
  • Clotted or quantity not sufficient specimens are not suitable for testing and will be rejected 
  • Clotted specimen are not suitable for testing. Testing may be attempted, but not all results may be reported. 

Reference Values

Not applicable

Critical Values

Analyte

Unit

Low

High

Age

Intracellular organisms and intracellular or extracellular parasites in: blood, CSF, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid (paracentesis), pleural fluid, synovial fluid; intracellular and extracellular yeast and pneumocystis in BAL.

Clinical Indications

  • Useful in the diagnosis of disease states such as hemorrhage, malignancy, inflammation, viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections
  • Differentiation of leukocyte types may further aid in the detection and diagnosis of suspected disorders

Test Components

Specimen appearance, WBC cell count, RBC cell count, WBC differential, crystal examination, pathologist interpretation if requested

CPT Codes

89051

LOINC Codes

BFLU 14725-6, BAPP 9335-1, BTOT 38256-4, BRBC 6741-3, BWBC 6743-9, BNEU 26513-2, BLYM 13941-0, BMAC 12230-9, BMES 12234-1, BEOS 12209-3, BBAS 12179-8, BPLA 17803-8, BCRY 5781-0

Methodology

Manual hemocytometer method, Wright stain and light microscopy 

Additional Information

Not applicable 

Turnaround Time

Turnaround times are relative to the time the specimen is received in the test laboratory. 

 

STAT Turnaround Time: 120 minutes

 

Routine Turnaround Time: 480 minutes

 

Testing Schedule: 24/7

Volume

Preferred Volume: 4.0 mL

Minimum Volume: 1.0 mL

Synonyms/Search Keywords

Fluid cell count, fluid diff, joint fluid

Last Reviewed Date

8/12/2024