The Solution of Pollution Carried by Chemistry Analyzer

The Solution of Pollution Carried by Chemistry Analyzer

In July 2020, the Clinical Chemistry Group of the Chinese Society of Laboratory Medicine issued the “Expert Consensus on Analysis, Evaluation and Treatment Method of Pollution Carried by Chemistry Analyzer”.

The consensus summarizes the sources and characteristics of pollution carried by the chemistry analyzer, provides assessment procedures and methods for carryover pollution, and introduces common solutions for carryover pollution. The consensus is used to guide laboratory staff to correctly identify and evaluate carryover pollution and effectively reduce the impact of result deviations caused by carryover pollution on patient diagnosis and treatment.

The consensus believes that carryover pollution is still one of the main challenges to the accuracy of the chemical system’s detection results at this stage, which requires the attention and effective prevention of the Users.

The concept of pollution carried by the chemical detection system

Contamination carried by the chemical detection system is the passage of residual substances (such as biological samples, reagents, mixed reaction liquids or reaction products, etc.) in the previous chemistry test process through instrument components (including but not limited to probes, cuvettes, stirring rods, tubes, etc.) carried to the next chemical detection reaction, which participates in the reaction, affects the reaction process, directly or indirectly interferes with colorimetry or turbidity, and causes significant deviation of the detection results.

Common types of pollution carried by the automatic chemistry analyzer

According to the consensus, the common types of carryover pollution can be divided into the following types according to the location of carryover pollution:

① Pollution carried by the sample probe
② Pollution carried by reagent probe
③ Pollution carried by the cuvette
④ Pollution carried by stirring rod
⑤ Pollution carried by pipeline

The challenge of carryover pollution

The consensus provides common assessment procedures, methods, and solutions for carryover pollution. However, with the continuous development of testing technology, testing samples are more and more abundant. The application of various body fluid samples, the use of different anticoagulants, and the aging of machines may cause new changes in samples’ contamination. It is extremely time-consuming to find the cause of carryover pollution, and it consumes fortune on reagent expense.

Carryover pollution solution: chemistry analyzer with microfluidic

According to the causes of carryover pollution, we found that microfluidic’s technical characteristics can effectively avoid carryover pollution from the root.

1.Use disposable tips throughout the process

MNCHIP automatic chemistry analyzer uses disposable tips to take blood samples. The lyophilized kits of MNCHIP automatic chemistry analyzer are pre-packaged in the reagent disc, and there is no need to worry about the contamination caused by sample probes and reagent probes;

2.No cuvette required

MNCHIP automatic chemistry analyzer applies for Microfluidic technology. A series of operation compartments such as sample separation, quantification, reaction, and detection is integrated into a tiny space-one reagent panel. The colorimetric holes around the reagent plate replace the cuvette of the traditional chemistry analyzers, thus avoiding the pollution caused by the cuvette;

3.No stirring rod required

MNCHIP’s Microfluidic technology uses centrifugal force and gross suction to make the sample pass through the microfluidic channel. The sample is quantitatively transported to the colorimetric holes and fully reacted with the pre-packed lyophilized reagent beads. MNCHIP’s Microfluidic technology does not require physical stirring and mixing, which avoids carryover pollution caused by the mixing device;

4.No deionized water and reagent pipeline

Because of the microfluidic technology MNCHIP used, there is no need to have upper and lower water pipes which constitutes the whole detection process to rinse the cuvette, sample probe, reagent probe, and stirring rod with deionized water compared with conventional fully automatic chemistry analyzer. Therefore the detection process will not pollute the entire system due to deionized water quality problems. The liquid-free reagent pipeline of the MNCHIP chemistry analyzer prevents the residual reagent from being carried directly by the reagent tip into the next reaction system;

5.Not affected by maintenance and aging factors of instrument parts

The entire reaction system of the MNCHIP chemistry analyzer uses disposable consumables, which can be discarded according to the correct biosafety method. There’s no doubt that it could help users fundamentally eliminate samples’ contamination caused by factors such as wear and tear of sample probes and poor pipeline cleaning and maintenance.

Technology of Microfluidic

1)Can avoid carryover pollution and ensure the accuracy of test results;

2) Greatly reduce the work intensity and reagent cost of carrying pollution assessment;

3) Microfluidic reaction system will not carry pollution due to aging and poor maintenance of components. Moreover, the maintenance for whole system is more convenient and fast, which greatly improves the efficiency of laboratory chemical detection.

In conclusion, the chemistry detection system with Microfluidic like MNCHIP automatic chemistry analyzer can guide clinical diagnosis and treatment more accurately and quickly to serve patients better to avoid any pollution carried out by conventional chemistry analyzer.