Abstract
The use of the immunological fecal occult blood test is widespread as the first-line medical examination for colorectal cancer. Recently, the value of the automatic immunochemistry fecal occult blood analyzer has increased owing to the necessity of measuring many samples with high precision. We performed a basic evaluation study of a measurement assay using the automatic immunochemistry fecal occult blood analyzer Hemo Techt NS-Prime (Alfresa Pharma Co., Ltd.) for hemoglobin and transferrin in feces. The study showed that the coefficient of variation (CV) of within-run precision was less than 2%, and that of between-day precision was less than 3%. The CV of the within-run precision of dilution function was less than 1%. The results of the dilution linearity test, prozone phenomenon test, carry-over test and detection limit test also showed good correlations. The correlation between the results of the new analyzer (NS-Prime) and the conventional analyzer (NS-PlusC) was excellent: y = 0.867x + 1.440, r = 0.987, n = 400 (Hb) and y = 1.030x + 2.572, r = 0.997, n = 400 (Tf). The basic performance and capacity of the new analyzer were better than those of conventional analyzers. The new analyzer with its high performance in specimen processing has proved to be very efficient, especially for medical examinations that demand high precision and rapidity.
