Specimen:

Plasma

Collection Medium:

Alternate
Collection Media:

Call laboratory for additional acceptable specimen collection 
containers.

Minimum:

2 ml whole blood from light green top tube or 0.4 microtubes

Testing Schedule:

24 hrs/day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

Analytic Time:

1 hour (upon receipt in laboratory)

Reference Range:

4-12 mcg/ml

Critical value: >12 mcg/ml

Comments:

Add-on testing permitted only within 24 hours of draw time.  Unable to 
add on requested testing if sample is greater than 24 hours old.

Test
Limitations:

Criterion: recovery plus or minus 0.5 ug/ml of initial value at 
concentrations less than 5 ug/ml or plus or minus 10% of initial value 
at concentrations greater than 5 ug/ml.

Icterus: No significant interference from bilirubin up to an I index of 
60 (approximate bilirubin concentration: 60 mg/dl).

Hemolysis: No significant interference from hemoglobin up to an H index 
of 1000 (approximate hemoglobin concentration: 1000 mg/dl).

Lipemia: No significant interference from triglycerides up to 1000 
mg/dl.

No significant interference from total protein up to 12 g/dl or 
rheumatoid factor up to 180 IU/ml.

The incidence of patients with antibodies to E. coli beta-galactosidase 
is extremely low. However, some samples containing such antibodies can 
result in artificially high carbamazepine results that do not fit the 
clinical profile.

As with any assay employing mouse antibodies, the possibility exists
for interference by human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA) in the sample, 
which could cause falsely elevated results.

Methodology:

Enzymatic ImmunoAssay (EIA)

CPT Code:

80156

See also:
Carbamazepine Epoxide & Total, Serum

See Additional Information:
Chemistry Critical Lab Values