G. Ward et al., SIMPLE PROCEDURES CAN MARKEDLY ENHANCE AUTOMATED IMMUNOASSAY PERFORMANCE, American journal of clinical pathology, 102(1), 1994, pp. 3-6
Theoretically, optimal performance for an immunoassay system is achiev
ed when both the interassay and within-run precisions are identical. U
sing the Ciba Coming ACS:180(TM) automated immunoassay system, the aut
hors made two simple changes to the operating procedures that allowed
near-optimal analytic performance (as assessed with the interassay coe
fficient of variation determined by the protocol of the National Commi
ttee for Clinical Laboratory Standards) for four of six hormones: thyr
oid-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, and human cho
rionic gonadotropin. At low hormone concentrations, the 20% interassay
coefficients of variation for the hormones assayed were as follows: f
ree tetraiodothyronine, 1.74 pM; thyroid-stimulating hormone,.033 mIU/
L; luteinizing hormone, .21 U/L; follicle-stimulating hormone, .69 U/L
; prolactin, 5.03 mU/L; and human chorionic gonadotropin, 1.52 mU/L. T
he operational enhancements improved the analytic performance of the a
ssay for all hormones assessed compared with the performance of previo
usly used isotopic immunoassays.