Visotubes are the cylindrical coloured sleeves that hold individual cryogenic straws within your storage system. They sit within goblets, which sit within canisters, which sit within your storage vessel. In terms of physical size they are small. In terms of organisational function they are the item in your storage system that an embryologist interacts with most often, and their design reflects clinical requirements that go well beyond simple containment.
What Makes a Good Visotube
A visotube needs to hold straws securely at -195.8 degrees C without becoming so brittle that it cracks on retrieval. It needs to be colour-coded in a way that remains visible and readable in storage conditions. And it needs to be physically compatible with the goblets and canisters in your storage system – incompatible dimensions create problems that are inconvenient to discover mid-procedure.
Colour Coding as a Clinical Tool
The colour of visotubes in a UK IVF laboratory typically carries clinical information – patient identification, sample type, treatment cycle, or a combination. A well-designed colour coding system means that an embryologist retrieving a specific sample can visually confirm they have the right sample before removing anything from the vessel, reducing the risk of a wrong-patient event that HFEA would take seriously.
Cryolab supplies CBS visotubes in round, hexagonal, triangular and polygonal cross-sections, in multiple colours, and in pack sizes suited to both small clinics and high-volume fertility departments. The cross-sectional shape affects packing density within goblets – non-round alternatives leave less dead space, which matters for labs trying to maximise sample capacity within a fixed vessel size.
Cryosleeves as an Alternative
Cryosleeves – flexible rather than rigid sleeves for straws – provide an alternative for labs that prefer a more flexible system or are storing straws that do not fit standard visotube dimensions. Cryolab supplies both rigid visotubes and flexible cryosleeves to suit different laboratory preferences. Contact us for configuration advice specific to your vessel and programme.
