Suitability of a transport box for blood sample shipment over a long period.

BACKGROUND: Safety transport boxes are increasingly used to ship laboratory specimens but there is little information on their capacity to maintain suitable transportation temperatures.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Inner temperature was assessed using a commercially available transport box during an 8-h transportation period in the heat.
RESULTS: Temperature stability was unsatisfactory during approximately 64% of the transportation time (i.e., from 125 to 450 min).
CONCLUSIONS: Transport boxes might be unsuitable for shipping specimens over long periods.