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Test Code LAB4128 IRON & TIBC

Important Note

Hemolyzed specimens are not acceptable.

Specimen Type

Preferred Specimen: Lithium Heparin Plasma (Mint/Light Green Top Tube) 

Alternate Specimen: Serum (SST, Gold, Corvac, Tiger, Red Top Tube)

 

Specimen Volume

1 mL

Minimum Volume

0.5 mL

Turnaround Time

STAT: 1 hour
Routine: 4 hours

Test Schedule

Daily

Sample Stability

Room Temp: 10 hours

Refrigerated: 7 days

Frozen: 1 year

Specimen Processing

Separate serum from the clot within 1 hour.

Method

Colorimetric

Reference Ranges

 

IRON, TOTAL ADULT (F) 50 170 ug/dL
IRON, TOTAL ADULT (M) 65 175 ug/dL
TOTAL IRON-BINDING CAPACITY ADULT (F) 120 480 ug/dL
TOTAL IRON-BINDING CAPACITY ADULT (M) 134 415 ug/dL
UNSATURATED IRON-BINDING CAPACITY ADULT (F) 70 310 ug/dL
UNSATURATED IRON-BINDING CAPACITY ADULT (M) 69 240 ug/dL
IRON SAT % (F)  ADULT (F) 14 50 %
IRON SAT % M)  ADULT (M) 14 50 %

Reporting Limit

Iron:

Measuring Range: 7 - 1020 ug/dL

Reporting Range: 7 - 1020 ug/dL

UIBC: *Not a reportable result but needed for TIBC calculation.

Measuring Range: 25 - 500 ug/dL

Reporting Range: 25 - 500 ug/dL

 

Synonyms

Total Iron Binding Capacity; % Transferrin Saturation

Test Components

Iron, g/dL; Iron Binding Capacity, g/dL; % Saturation, %.

CPT Codes

83540, 83550

Limitations

In the presence of high Ferritin concentrations, (>1200 ug/L) the assumption that serum iron is almost completely bound to transferrin is no longer valid. Therfore, such iron results should not be used to calculate Total Iron Binding Capacity (TBC) or percent transferrin saturations (% SAT).

 

*When the UIBC (Unsaturated iron-binding capacity) is less than 16.8 the IBC and % Saturation will be resulted as " Unable to calculate")

Calculations

TIBC = Iron + UIBC

%SAT =  (Iron/TIBC) x 100