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Improvement in Throughput for Clinical Samples using SC-FAST
A typical clinical laboratory can have over 10,000 samples to be analyzed on a monthly basis for a wide variety of diagnostic tests. In this example, a clinical laboratory has 9 panels each with a different ICPMS method. The switch was made to the SC-FAST from standard introduction techniques to improve the laboratories throughput, without compromising accuracy or data quality. |
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| Table I: Method Time Improvement |
| Panel |
Standard Method Time (sec) |
SC-FAST Method Time (sec) |
Improvement Factor |
| Panel 1 |
140 |
50 |
2.8 |
| Panel 2 |
158 |
61 |
2.6 |
| Panel 3 |
130 |
53 |
2.5 |
| Panel 4 |
134 |
58 |
2.3 |
| Panel 5 |
120 |
39 |
3.1 |
| Panel 6 |
142 |
49 |
2.9 |
| Panel 7 |
120 |
39 |
3.1 |
| Panel 8 |
158 |
59 |
2.7 |
| Panel 9 |
177 |
95 |
1.9 |
| Average Improvement |
2.6 |
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By reducing the uptake, stabilization and rinse times of an ICPMS method, the SC-FAST can be used to reduce analysis times. Table I shows that all of the methods used were dramatically reduced by the SC-FAST, on average by over 2 ½ times.
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With a daily load of 472 samples, standards, quality control standards and repeats to be run, the ICPMS needs to be run for over 19 hours per day using standard introduction systems.
| Table II: Analysis time per day |
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Average # Daily Analyses |
Analysis Time per Sample |
Analysis Time per Day |
| Samples, Curve, QC, Repeats |
hh:mm:ss |
| Standard |
SC-FAST |
Standard |
SC-FAST |
| Panel 1 |
194 |
0:02:20 |
0:00:50 |
7:32:18 |
2:41:32 |
| Panel 2 |
88 |
0:02:38 |
0:01:01 |
3:50:55 |
1:29:09 |
| Panel 3 |
65 |
0:02:10 |
0:00:53 |
2:20:00 |
0:57:05 |
| Panel 4 |
15 |
0:02:14 |
0:00:58 |
0:33:31 |
0:14:31 |
| Panel 5 |
5 |
0:02:00 |
0:00:39 |
0:09:14 |
0:03:00 |
| Panel 6 |
5 |
0:02:22 |
0:00:49 |
0:10:55 |
0:03:46 |
| Panel 7 |
18 |
0:02:00 |
0:00:39 |
0:36:55 |
0:12:00 |
| Panel 8 |
14 |
0:02:38 |
0:00:59 |
0:36:28 |
0:13:37 |
| Panel 9 |
69 |
0:02:57 |
0:01:35 |
3:24:14 |
1:49:37 |
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| Total |
472 |
Total Hours/Day: |
19:14:31 |
7:44:17 |
By utilizing the SC-FAST the same number of samples could be run in less than 8 hours, reducing running costs and creating the possibility to have same day turnaround in results. |
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