Specimen ascitic fluid

Ascitic fluid usually contains greater than 300 leukocytes/ mm3, and bacteria may be evident on Gram stain of a centrifuged specimen. 

Fluid specimens apply to abdominal washings, ascitic fluids, colonic washings, duodenal washings, gastric washings, pleural fluids, pericardial fluids, ovarian cyst fluids, synovial fluids, and sputa. 

Many errors can occur during the collection, processing, and transport of biological specimens. Minimizing these errors win result in more reliable information for use by healthcare professionals. Examples of biological specimens that are analyzed in clinical laboratories include whole blood serum plasma urine feces saliva spinal, synovial, amniotic, pleural, pericardial, and ascitic fluids and various types of solid tissue. The National Committee for CMnical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) has published several procedures for collecting many of these specimens under standardized conditio ns.In addition, the NCCLS has published documents related to sample collection and analysis for specialized tests, such as sweat chloride (see also Chapter 27). 

Thin fluid specimens (e.g. fine needle aspirations, ascitic fluids, bronchial lavages) may be concentrated by centrifugation, or diluted if very cellular, before being spread onto glass slides. Ctytospin preparations (Cytospin , Shandon Scientific Ltd.) may also be prepared these have the advantage of localizing the cells to an area of approximately 1 cm in diameter. 

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