COMPARISON OF THE AUTOMATED RANDOM-ACCESS IMMUNOASSAY ANALYZERS, ACS-180 (CIBA CORNING) AND AIA-1200 (TOSOH)

Two random access immunoassay analysers, the ACS-180 (Ciba Corning) an d the AIA-1200 (Tosoh Corp.) were compared with respect to performance and user-friendliness. Precision studies revealed an almost equal int ra-assay variation coefficient, but day-to-day reproducibility was bet ter on the AIA-1200. Recovery of dilution series of tumour markers was too high with the ACS-180. Both systems were free from carry-over eff ects, on account of the extra wash step in the ACS-180 (for thyrotropi n, carcinoembryonic antigen and human chorionic gonadotropin) and the separate pipetting tip in the AIA-1200. Reagent stability is better in the AIA-1200 than in the ACS-180. The AIA-1200 is more user-friendly and produces a higher throughput than the ACS-180 in daily routine ope ration (92 results/hour vs. 78 results/hour).