THYROID TESTING USING THE COBAS(R) CORE IMMUNOASSAY SYSTEM - A MULTICENTER STUDY

The random access immunoanalyzer Cobas(R) Core and the Cobas Core Thyr oid Assays were assessed as to their clinical usefulness in the analys is of different thyroid diseases. Four centres participated in this st udy measuring the following five thyroid tests per sample on the instr ument: thyrotropin, free thyroxine, thyroxine, triiodothyronine and fr ee triiodothyronine. The assessment was based on studies of precision and clinical samples. Within- and between-series precisions showed a m ean CV over all assays of 4.3 and 6.1%, respectively. Comparison of th e test results with clinical data demonstrated that the Cobas Core res ults are in accordance with diagnosed thyroid diseases. A good discrim ination between normal and disease status and between untreated and tr eated status was found. Furthermore, 370 sera measured with Technicon Immuno-1(R) TSH and FT4 assays were compared to the respective Cobas C ore EIAs(1)). A good correlation between the assays was demonstrated.