Interference by heterophilic antibodies in immunoassays: wrong increase of myoglobin values.
Aim of this work is to illustrate how analytical interference in immunoassay may produce serious errors in clinical laboratory results. The sophisticated quality assurance schemes used in many laboratories do not identify erroneous results arising from aberrant samples. Recently attention has been focused on the incidence and implication of false-positive results arising from the presence of certain substances in a patient's serum that interfere with one or more steps in immunoassays. In this paper, we present the case of a 92 year-old woman whose plasma myoglobin concentrations falsely increased when measured using the Beckman Access assay. We demonstrated that heterophilic antibodies accounted for the falsely increased myoglobin values, and we suggest how to resolve such situations.
Bonetti
Antonio
A
Dept of Clinical Sciences, University of Parma, Italy. antonio.bonetti@unipr.it
Monica
Cesare
C
Bonaguri
Chiara
C
Gnocchi
Cecilia
C
Russo
Annalisa
A
Battistelli
Luisita
L
Musiari
Luisa
L
Pastori
Paolo
P
Novarini
Almerico
A
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000910:Antibodies, Heterophile / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D003298:Coombs Test; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*
D000910:Antibodies, Heterophile; D009211:Myoglobin