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Geisinger Medical Laboratories Test Catalog
CARNITINE |
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ORDERING INFORMATION: |
Geisinger Epic Procedure Code: LAB1949 Geisinger Epic ID: 21330 | |
SPECIMEN COLLECTION |
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Specimen type: |
Serum (preferred) or plasma. | |
Preferred collection container: |
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Alternate Collection Container: |
6 mL red-top (plain, non-serum separator) tube
4 mL green/green-top (sodium heparin) tube
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Specimen required: |
1 mL aliquot of serum or plasma; minimum 0.5 mL. | |
| SPECIMEN PROCESSING |
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Specimen processing instructions: |
Centrifuge and transfer serum or plasma specimens to clean, plastic, screw-capped vial(s). Freeze immediately after separation. Transport on refrigerant coolant, or transport frozen samples on dry ice. Avoid freeze/thaw cycles. | |
Transport temperature: |
Frozen. | |
Specimen stability: |
Room temperature: 5 hours. Refrigerated: 5 days. Frozen: 30 days. | |
Rejection criteria: |
Specimens received room temperature. Moderate and gross hemolysis. Stability limits exceeded. | |
TEST DETAILS |
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Additional information: |
Report available 5 days. | |
CPT code(s): |
82379 | |
| Note: The billing party has sole responsibility for CPT coding. Any questions regarding coding should be directed to the payer being billed. The CPT codes provided by GML are based on AMA guidelines and are for informational purposes only. | ||
Test includes: |
Free carnitine, total carnitine, carnitine esters, esterified/free ratio. | |
Methodology: |
Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) |
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Synonyms: |
CARNPL, Quest test code 70107
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Clinical significance: |
Serum carnitine analysis is useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with carnitine deficiency (either primary or secondary). Primary carnitine deficiency is an autosomal recessively inherited genetic condition that affects carnitine uptake by cells and tissues through a defect in the plasma membrane carnitine transporter. Secondary carnitine deficiency can be seen in some disease states or in patients on carnitine-poor diets, but is also seen in a number of metabolic disorders. In these disorders, carnitine complexes with the accumulated substrate of the blocked metabolic step, and the resulting acylcarnitine ester is excreted in the urine, leading to a depletion of carnitine in the patient. | |