Assessing Phlebotomy Device Preference and Specimen Quality in an Oncology Outpatient Clinic.

Background: Oncology patients have frequent venipunctures, which causes scarring, making subsequent draws difficult and painful. Novel blood collection systems may decrease discomfort in patients experiencing repeat blood draws.

Methods: Oncology outpatients (n = 101; criteria excluded 12) were recruited to determine their preference for either of two blood collection systems, the 23-gauge standard BD Vacutainer Push Button Blood Collection Set (Standard Push Button system) or the 25-gauge BD Vacutainer UltraTouch Push Button Blood Collection Set (UltraTouch Push Button system).

Predictive Performance of Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers in High-Risk Elderly Patients.

Background: Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (UCH-L1) have recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval for prediction of abnormal computed tomography (CT) in mild traumatic brain injury patients (mTBI). However, their performance in elderly patients has not been characterized.

Methods: We performed a posthoc analysis using the A Prospective Clinical Evaluation of Biomarkers of Traumatic Brain Injury (ALERT-TBI) study data.