Specimen Requirements

Title

Beta-2 Transferrin, Fluid

Specimen Requirement

Collect 0.5 mL nasal, eye or ear fluid in a sterile screw capped container or transport tube. Source is required.

Alternate sample:
If direct collection is not feasible, specimen may be collected using plain cotton swab (soaked with fluid) and submitted in a sterile, plastic, leak-proof transport tube.

Methodology

Immunofixation/Electrophoresis

Stability

Room temp: 7 days, Refrigerated: 7 days, Frozen: 7 days

Reference Range

By Report*

Turnaround

3-5 days

Clinical Use

Presence of Beta-2 Transferrin (B2T) in nose and ear secretions is indicative of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage. B2T is used as a marker of CSF leakage for the diagnosis of rhinorrhea or otorrhea as a result of head trauma, tumor, congenital malformation, surgery etc.

Test Code

B2T