Mucus

[Spanielblue]

Does anybody know how long you can keep a fresh mucus sample for. I have just done one but it is now too late to take it along to my doctors' surgery so have put it in the fridge until tomorrow morning. I have never found bringing up mucus easy but this time have been threatened with a bronchoscopy if I can't give a sample. I don't think it will be a very good one though as a mixture of spit and mucus. Thank you!

[Bkin]

Better if fresh, 1st thing in the morning and get in to surgery before mid day, but you could check with your surgery the timings and sample requirements. Keep drinking plenty and maybe do the ACB technique first thing in the morning

youtu.be/XvorhwGZGm8(Not working as expected?)

hopefully you will be successful

Hope you have a spare sterile sample pot.

[Mavary]

My Husband was told to put it in the fridge overnight.

[soulsaver in reply to Mavary]

Cool! lol

[Bronchi1]

I've been told 24 hours in the fridge.

[carolgardner]

It needs to be fresh that’s what I was told and to get it to surgery before 11 o’clock, the results for mine seems to take a few weeks to come back so what happens to them when they get to hospital I don’t know.

[MoyB]

Consultant told me it's ok to put in the fridge for 24 hrs. xx Moy

[Hidden]

Yes, I think 24 hours in the fridge...2 hours at room temperature. But by the time I get it to the GP and it gets collected and delivered to the hospital I reckon it's always longer than 2 hours which is why the results are negative half the time.

I used to deliver the sample straight to microbiology in the hospital, that way you can be sure. But now it's impossible to find a parking space or even , sometimes, to get to the hospital because of traffic, so I have given up.

[cofdrop-UK]

This is the age old argument that even clinicians don’t seem to agree on. In fact when we were having meetings at ERS I did ask if this could be clarified by a microbiologist and given in the information. I was informed by the Prof that samples start to deteriorate as soon as they leave the body. I have been asked in the past by someone in general respiratory to send a sample by post (no way for me). If you can’t take it direct to the lab, then it’s best to check with your GP what time the hospital driver collects samples.

You are right Spanielblue only mucus and no spit.

Hope you manage to get a sample in as a bronchoscopy does sound a bit drastic - a hammer to crack a nut.

Stay safe.

Love cx

[watergazer]

My surgery the rule is fresh and before 9.30 am. Seems they all work differently. Just mucus too x