Most rubber stoppers used in laboratory vacutainer tubes contain aluminum. Therefore, the use of metal-free collection containers is essential to avoid contamination. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used for measurement.
Serum aluminum:
Serum is the preferred specimen for aluminum. Interestingly, reference laboratories will provide two reference ranges: one for those on dialysis and one for those not on dialysis. For example, a normal level may be <7 ng/mL in a person not on dialysis, whereas <60 ng/mL may be used for those on dialysis.
Urine aluminum:
This test should not be used for routine aluminum screening since serum is more reflective of toxicity. The best use of urine aluminum is to assess exposure in patients with normal kidney function since aluminum should be rapidly filtered by the kidneys and present in urine in those who have functional kidneys and were recently exposed.
