EVALUATION OF THE ABBOTT AUTOMATED RANDOM, IMMEDIATE AND CONTINUOUS ACCESS IMMUNOASSAY ANALYZER, THE AXSYM(TM)

The new Abbott automated immunoassay analyser called AxSYM(TM) was eva luated in our laboratories. The AxSYM(TM) is a completely automated sy stem that allows random access in combination with immediate and conti nuous access. Here we describe the evaluation of the AxSYM(TM) on thre e panels of analytes, thyroid, fertility and tumour markers. We observ ed good within-run reproducibility (ranging from %CV = 3.15 to 11.37 f or low assay control to %CV = 1.18 to 6.38 for high controls) as well as between-day and between-laboratory precision (low controls 3.44 to 14.6 %CV and high controls 2.56 to 8.9 %CV). The analytical sensitivit y of the assays ranged from very sensitive to acceptable, but always b etter than claimed by the manufacturer. The throughput of the AxSYM(TM ) in our hands was 68 tests per hour. Correlation between the AxSYM(TM ) assays and other Abbott assays (IMx) was excellent (slopes ranging f rom 0.965 to 1.071, correlation, r = 0.964 to 0.999). Compared to the Tosoh AIA 1200, good correlation was observed (slopes ranging from 0.9 64 to 1.111, correlation, r = 0.740 to 1.000), except for thyrotropin (slope = 0.689, r = 0.998) and carcinoembryonic antigen (slope = 0.737 , r = 0.949). We concluded that the AxSYM(TM) represents a new generat ion of random access automated immune analysers with very good perform ance in a daily routine use. We also concluded that the AxSYM(TM) was very technician friendly compared to the Tosoh AIA 1200.