A clinical evaluation of the Cobas Fara clinical chemistry analyzer for some routine serum enzymes and glucose.

The authors evaluated the Cobas FARA centrifugal analyzer with respect to pipetting precision and accuracy, instrument temperature, spectrophotometric response, and analytic performance for the assay of five serum enzymes and glucose. Spectrophotometric response, temperature response, pipetting precision, and accuracy were satisfactory. However, sufficient time must be allowed for cuvet contents to reach a stable temperature before measurements are made. Total day-to-day imprecision (within plus between run) was less than 5% (coefficient of variation) for aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST; Enzyme Commission classification number [EC] EC 2.6.1.1; and ALT; EC 2.6.1.2); alkaline phosphatase (AP; EC 3.1.3.1); gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; EC 2.3.1.2); lactate dehydrogenase (LD; EC 1.1.1.17); creatine kinase (CK; EC 2.7.3.1); and glucose assays. Results compare well with those obtained with other current clinical chemistry analyzers; correlation coefficients were greater than 0.993. Sample-to-sample carryover was negligible, and method linearity was satisfactory for all tests.

The EPOS Automated Selective Chemistry Analyzer evaluated.

We evaluated the analytical performance of the EPOS (Eppendorf Patient Oriented System) Automated Selective Chemistry Analyzer, using the following tests for serum analytes: alanine and aspartate aminotransferases, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and glucose. Results from the EPOS correlated well with those from comparison instruments (r greater than or equal to 0.990). Precision and linearity limits were excellent for all tests; linearity of the optical and pipetting systems was satisfactory. Reagent carryover was negligible. Sample-to-sample carryover was less than 1% for all tests, but only lactate dehydrogenase was less than the manufacturer's specified 0.5%. Volumes aspirated and dispensed by the sample and reagent II pipetting systems differed significantly from preset values, especially at lower settings; the reagent I system was satisfactory at all volumes tested. Minimal daily maintenance and an external data-reduction system make the EPOS a practical alternative to other bench-top chemistry analyzers.