title: Syphilis detection using the Siemens ADVIA Centaur Syphilis treponemal assay.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Treponemal tests for detecting syphilis should be sufficiently sensitive and specific, especially when used as the first-line method in reverse-algorithm testing. We compared the Siemens ADVIA Centaur® Syphilis assay to 2 other commercial assays in use by the Star-MDC laboratory to evaluate its performance and usability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Agreement between the Siemens ADVIA Centaur Syphilis assay, Siemens IMMULITE® 2000 Syphilis Screen, and Biokit bioelisa Syphilis 3.0 assay was evaluated using 1251 patient samples (50 from known positives, 701 from patients referred for syphilis testing, and 500 from pregnant women). Reactive samples (i.e., reactive according to at least two of the three treponemal methods) were further evaluated using Western blot IgG and IgM, and Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, positive and negative agreement was 100% between the Centaur and IMMULITE assays. In this study, overall agreement was 99.92% between either of the Siemens assays and the Biokit assay; positive agreement was 99%, and negative agreement was 100%. Overall, 0.88% (11/1251) of the samples were interpreted as positive/reactive based on the combined positive results by the ADVIA Centaur, IMMULITE 2000, and bioelisa assays; a positive Euroline anti-Treponema pallidum IgM blot; and a VDRL result of ≥1:8. In this study, no false-reactive samples were identified using this method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Centaur Syphilis assay performance is comparable to the other 2 commercial assays.
authors: Star-MDC, Laboratory for Medical Microbiology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Ad
authors: A
authors: Donkers
authors: Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Los Angeles, CA, United States. Electronic address: helene.levy@siemens.com.
authors: H Roma
authors: HR
authors: Levy
authors: Star-MDC, Laboratory for Medical Microbiology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Annemiek
authors: A
authors: Letens-van Vliet
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D013587:Syphilis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D014210:Treponema pallidum / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Automated immunoassay; Performance evaluation; Reverse algorithm; Syphilis; Treponemal testing