Evaluation of Advia Centaur automated chemiluminescence immunoassay for determining total homocysteine in plasma.
BACKGROUND
A lot of methods are now available for total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) determination. HPLC with fluorescence detection were the most widely used methods until recently but immunoassays, easier to use, currently supplant in-house laboratory methods.


METHODS
The latest commercial automated chemiluminescence immunoassay (ICL) for tHcy, developed on the ADVIA Centaur analyzer (Bayer Diagnostics), was fully evaluated and compared with a current HPLC method.


RESULTS
The ICL-ADVIA Centaur method had a detection limit <0.9 micromol/l and was linear for tHcy between 2.4 and 58.8 micromol/l. The within- and between assay imprecision was <6% and <7%, respectively. The analytical recovery ranged from 93.5% to 109.7%. The comparison of 168 clinical plasma specimens indicated a good correlation between the two methods (r=0.96, p<0.0001) but a systematic positive bias for ICL-ADVIA Centaur method (mean difference=3.0 micromol/l).


CONCLUSIONS
The ADVIA Centaur method is a useful and practicable alternative to HPLC methods for tHcy determination. The ICL method is even more convenient than chromatographic methods for routine use because of its significantly higher throughput (200 samples/h vs. 40 per 24 h). However, the agreement among methods is insufficient to allow them to be used interchangeably.
Demuth
Karine
K
Laboratoire de Biochimie Cardiovasculaire, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, AP-HP, 75015 Paris, France. karine.demuth@egp.ap-hop-paris.fr
Ducros
Véronique
V
Michelsohn
Samantha
S
Paul
Jean-Louis
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011786:Quality Control; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D006454:Hemoglobins; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008055:Lipids; D006710:Homocysteine