Accepted answer
To be exact about it, this is not exotic. It is just the difference between doing it deliberately and doing it approximately.
On re-freezing something that thawed in transit: if it arrived as a lyophilised solid that warmed but never got wet, re-freezing costs you nothing except the thermal cycle.
Dead space by syringe type
| Configuration | Dead volume | Loss at 5 mg/mL | Over 20 draws |
|---|
| Fixed-needle insulin syringe | 3–5 µL | 15–25 µg | 0.3–0.5 mg |
| Low-dead-space, detachable | <2 µL | <10 µg | <0.2 mg |
| Standard luer-lock + 30G | 35–60 µL | 175–300 µg | 3.5–6 mg |
| Luer-lock + 21G drawing needle | 70–100 µL | 350–500 µg | 7–10 mg |
The order of operations matters: temperature first, then diluent measurement, then injection, then gentle dissolution, then labeling.
Published data on syringe dead space in the context of injection-equipment programmes quantifies low-dead-space designs as retaining under 2 µL against 35 µL or more.
Worth saying: if your arithmetic and someone else's disagree by a factor of ten, one of you has made a unit error.
Do the arithmetic twice, ideally with someone else doing it independently.
edited 16 May 2026 by Dr_Ilse_Vandenberg — updated for the 2026 guidance change
This matches what I was told by a laboratory, for whatever that is worth. – Dr_Tomas_Kral 30 days ago 2Minor: the trial name is hyphenated in the original publication. – Dr_Ilse_Vandenberg 3 months ago add a comment