Evaluation of a new measurement procedure for the concentration of ferritin in serum.
The aim of this study was the evaluation of an immunoturbidimetric measurement procedure for the concentration of ferritin in serum, based on the new Tina-quant Ferritin reagents kit (Boehringer Mannheim) in which the antibody-coated latex particles have been modified with regard to the previous Tina-quant Ferritin reagents kit. The evaluation was carried out using the BM/Hitachi 917 Analyzer. The evaluation included the within-run and between-day imprecisions estimation, the comparison of measurement procedures and the assessment of the measuring range. An additional study of between-day imprecision was done using 4 microl and 20 microl of sample. Detection limit was studied using BM/Hitachi 917 (4 microl and 20 microl of sample), ES 300 and Cobas-Core analyzers. The coefficients of variation obtained in the between-day imprecision study are lower when 20 microl of sample is used instead of 4 microl. In the measurement procedure using 20 microl, the coefficient of variation observed at physiological concentrations is 2.4%. The detection limit with 20 microl of sample is lower than with 4 microl. Therefore, in ferropenic anaemia studies it is convenient to use the measurement procedure with 20 microl sample volumes, since it possesses the best metrological characteristics for this purpose.