Iron Studies, Serum

Overview
Department	Biochemistry
Test Code	PIS
Constituent Tests	Iron Transferrin % Saturation Ferritin
Synonyms	TIBC (superseded by Iron Studies) Iron Saturation
Availability	Monday - Sunday, testing routinely available out of hours
Turnaround Time	2 – 6 hrs
Stability – Add test	Full Iron Studies - 8 hours Ferritin - 5 days
Specimen Requirements
Specimen	Plasma or Serum
Preferred	LiHep Green-Top tube
Acceptable	Red-Top or Yellow-Top tube
Unacceptable	Grossly haemolysed Moderately haemolysed samples will only have Ferritin reported
Specimen Transportation
Paediatric Requirements	600 μL Li-Hep Microtainer
Aliquot Requirements
Sample	Serum or Plasma
Preferred Volume	0.5 mL
Minimum Volume
Aliquot Transportation
Clinical Information
Reference Intervals	Iron   µmol/L 0 – 2 months             10 – 31 >2 months - 1 year       4 – 27 >1 - 3 years       5 – 23 >3 - 10 years         6 – 25 >10 - 18 years       8 – 32 >18 + Adult     10 – 30 Transferrin       g/L 0-2 months 1.3 – 2.3 > 2 months - 3 years     1.6 – 3.3 >3 years + Adult   2.0 – 3.5 % Saturation 16-45% (transferrin saturation) Ferritin µg/L 0 – 15 years 15 – 150 Female 15 – 50 years> 20 – 200 > 50 years 20 – 350 Male >15 – 30 years 20 – 350 > 30 years 20 – 500
Test Method	Iron and Transferrin: Abbott Alinity c series analyser using Abbott reagents. Iron: Ferene colourimetric assay Transferrin: Immunoturbidimetric assay Ferritin: Abbott Alinity i series analyser using Abbott reagents. Chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA)
Advanced Notice	Not required
Patient Preparation	Not required
Comments

Owner	Clair Crossley (Crossley1)
Last reviewed	30.01.2026
Next review	30.01.2027 (OK)