Products Description

Core Features

Chelating calcium ions for anticoagulation: EDTA can chelate calcium ions (Ca²⁺) in the blood, forming stable soluble complexes that cause calcium ions to lose coagulation activity, thereby blocking the coagulation cascade and preventing blood coagulation.

Minimal impact on blood cell morphology: This is the fundamental reason why EDTA tubes have become the "standard component" in routine blood tests. EDTA causes minimal interference with the morphology, size, and count of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, accurately reflecting the original state of blood cells.

Inhibition of platelet aggregation: EDTA can suppress platelet aggregation, which is crucial for obtaining accurate platelet counts.

Main Application

Complete Blood Count (CBC): This is the core and most widely used EDTA tube, including red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts and classification, hemoglobin measurement, platelet counts, and more.

Blood typing and cross-matching: blood type testing and cross-matching test performed before transfusion.

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c): an indicator used by diabetic patients to assess long-term blood glucose control levels.

Anticoagulant

The anticoagulants used in EDTA tubes mainly include EDTA-K₂ (dipotassium salt) and EDTA-K₃ (tripotassium salt).
The most direct difference between the two lies in their physical form, which indirectly affects their dilution effect on specimens:

EDTA-K₂: Usually spray-dried on tube walls, appearing as a solid powder. Because it contains no water, it hardly dilutes blood samples.

EDTA-K₃: Initially commonly found in liquid form, now also available in spray-drying forms. If in liquid form, it will have a slight dilution effect on the specimen, which theoretically may cause the blood cell count to be slightly lower.

Choice

Routine Blood Count (CBC): K₂ is the safer "default option".

Currently, clinical and mainstream guidelines tend to favor the use of EDTA-K₂. The reason is that K₃ has a slightly greater effect on red blood cell morphology: K₃ causes slight shrinkage of red blood cells, resulting in a lower hematocrit (HCT) after centrifugation, an effect that is more pronounced at high concentrations.