In medicine, a laboratory specimen is a biological specimen of a medical patient's tissue, fluids, or other material used for laboratory analysis to assist in differential diagnosis or staging of a disease process. These specimens are often the most reliable method of diagnosis, depending on the ailment. For example, breast cancer biopsies, performed on laboratory specimens of breast tissue, yield just a 2% rate of incorrect diagnosis.[1]
General areas for cellular tissue extraction include:
For a given medical process, a certain volume of specimen must be taken from the patient.[4] Some specimen types also require special treatment, such as immediate mixture with an additive, or storage at a certain temperature.[5] After extraction, all specimen containers are required to be labeled with at least two of the following identifiers (at the time of collection): patient's name, date of birth, hospital number, test request form number, accession number, or unique random number. Afterwards, all specimens should be labeled with the patient present. This ensures that no false results are procured from mislabeled samples.[6]
Specimen temperatures are controlled for their specific use. Several common temperatures for storage are listed below.[citation needed]
| Room Temperature | 10.1 - 40.0°C |
| Refrigerated | 1.0 - 10.0°C |
| Frozen | -1.0 - -80.0°C |
Any specimen sample should only be used for testing, as any sharing of patient biological samples without patient consent is unethical and could heavily bias/slow research progress, not to mention grossly violate patient privacy.[7]
Disposal varies based on the nature of the specimen and testing. Laboratory and healthcare personnel should follow industry standard practices regarding sterile technique and any precaution regarding needle. All biological material should be treated as potentially hazardous and in doing so protocols regarding the disposal of the specimen should be strictly followed to maintain the safety of both patients and health care workers.[6]