How long do blood antibodies last in a test vial?

[Apk07]

I had bloodwork done by Quest Diagnostics on 3/16 in Michigan and they ended up shipping it out to California, then it got forwarded over to Virginia where after over a week they finally tested it today (3/24). I called and supposedly their testing is half-done and they have more of the panel to complete the next 2 days.

How long is my one little vial of blood viable for testing? Do the antibodies show accurately for a long period of time under proper storage or do they lose their detectability over time? I'm just afraid of inaccuracies or false negatives.

[Scott Adams]

These are great questions, and I'm not sure about this, but believe that they would likely follow proper protocols for storing and shipping the samples. It would be great to get an answer about these questions from them directly, have you tried asking Quest Diagnostics?

[RMJ]

I found this page from Quest.  It partly depends on the temperature at which your sample was stored and shipped.  Keeping samples cool while shipping requires ice packs, which is more weight, thus more expensive, so it was probably shipped at room temperature.

Look on the right, under Specimen Stability. Eight days is beyond their storage time frame for refrigerated samples.  

Specimen Handling for Celiac Comprehensive Panel

I would definitely contact Quest, and if they haven’t handled the sample per their own protocols, request a retest if you are at all suspicious of the results.