title: An evaluation of the Du Pont aca IV: does it meet medical needs?
abstract: A new bench-top analyzer from Du Pont, the "aca IV," was evaluated. To do so, we performed 10 different tests during an eight-week test period. The instrument is very precise (CVs less than 2%), results agree well with those obtained with the older acas (II and III), linearity is good in the clinically important ranges, and there is very little drift or carryover. From a medical-needs viewpoint, we found the analyzer satisfactory for all tests except possibly for calcium, for which the medical-needs criteria are so strict that few laboratories can meet them. We reached the latter conclusions by using a statistical model, described here, and from the predictive value of an abnormal test for populations with various prevalences of disease.
mesh_terms: D001322:Autoanalysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D002138:Calibration; D002624:Chemistry, Clinical / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium