EVALUATION OF AN AUTOMATIC HPLC ANALYZER FOR THALASSEMIA AND HEMOGLOBIN-VARIANTS SCREENING

In this paper the authors report the evolution of a new automatic HPLC analyser for screening haemoglobinopathies. HbA(2) and F determinatio ns are accurate and reproducible. The analysis time is short (6.5 min) and there is a good separation between the HbA(2) values of beta-thal assemia carriers from normals and alpha-thalassemia carriers, with no overlap between these groups. In addition, the system is also able to detect and quantitate most of the haemoglobin variants, particularly t hose (HbS, HbC, HbE and Hb Lepore) able to interact with beta-thalasse mia and could make haemoglobin electrophoresis unnecessary in all samp les. The ease of operation and the limited technical work make this sy stem especially suitable for laboratories with a high workload and all ow the cost of screening to be reduced.