Background: Pneumatic tube systems (PTS) are widely used in many hospitals. Using PTS reduces turnaround time (TAT) and can improve patients' outcome.
Methods: We investigated whether clinically significant differences could be observed in CSF samples transported by pneumatic tube in comparison with samples transported by hand. Two aliquots from one sample were sent by PTS and by hand from the department of neurology or neurosurgery and compared.
Results: Routine cytological and biochemical assessment was compared in 27 cases. There were no statistically significant changes (transport by hand vs. PTS) in glucose levels [data are expressed as median (minimum-maximum)] at 3.7 (2.5-8.6) mmol/L vs. 3.6 (2.7-8.6) mmol/L, p=0.96 or lactate levels at 1.8 mmol/L (1.1-5.5) vs. 1.8 mmol/L (1.1-5.4). We observed a statistically significant decline in total protein levels in samples transported by PTS at 0.56 g/L (0.19-4.29) vs. 0.49 g/L (0.18-4.3), p=0.008. We observed no changes in erythrocyte count at 5/μL (0-40,000) vs. 5/μL (0-40,106), mononuclear cells at 2/μL (1-145) vs. 3/μL (1-152), or polynuclear cells at 0/μL (0-235) vs. 0/μL (0-352). Spectrophotometric examination was performed in 20 cases. There were no statistically significant differences (transport by hand vs. transport by PTS) in NOA at 0.002 (0.001-1.537) vs. 0.001 (0.001-1.528), p=0.95 or NBA at 0.001 (0.001-0.231) vs. 0.001 (0.001-0.276), p=0.675. Samples transported by PTS were delivered faster than samples transported by courier (transport by hand vs. PTS) at 25 min (10-153) vs. 15 min (4-110), p=0.002.
Conclusions: We found no significant changes in glucose, lactate levels and in any of the cytological parameters assessed, nor were statistically significant changes observed in the spectrophotometric parameters. We found a statistically significant decrease in total protein levels in samples transported by PTS. Transport by PTS can be faster than transport by hand.