Common causes of blood coagulation include specimen collection tubes not containing special ingredients, specimen collection tubes themselves containing pro-coagulation, inadequate mixing after collection in anticoagulation collection tubes, and the patient’s own hypercoagulable state of blood.
1. Normal human blood contains coagulation factors, and after the blood is collected into the specimen tube without adding special ingredients, the blood will coagulate automatically.
2. Some clinically used specimen collection tubes contain procoagulant, in order to make the isolated blood coagulate quickly so as to carry out rapid separation and detection, so the blood will coagulate in the collection tubes containing procoagulant.
3. Anticoagulant collection tubes contain anticoagulant, which can prevent blood from coagulating, and the specimens need to be fully mixed immediately after collection, so that the blood and the anticoagulant can be fully contacted, and sometimes the staffs do not fully mix the specimens immediately after collection, which will lead to the coagulation of the blood.
4. Some patients’ blood is in a hypercoagulable state, and coagulation occurs soon after separation from the body, i.e., if collection tubes containing anticoagulants are used, the blood may have already coagulated before there is time for mixing.
There may be other reasons for coagulation of blood samples. Consultation with hematology or laboratory specialists is recommended.