Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne has invested in a Radiometer AQT90 FLEX analyser to allow rapid and convenient testing of NT-proBNP.
Raheela Bibi, advanced biomedical scientist and point-of-care coordinator at the hospital, explained: “Our laboratory previously used a BNP assay, which is time critical, as it is not stable in the long-term and must be determined within four hours of a blood sample being taken. Sample transit time between GP surgeries and the laboratory can be lengthy, and the assay itself took 30–40 minutes to set up and run, which caused workflow problems and could occasionally lead to samples being rejected.
“In contrast, NT-proBNP is a far more stable biomarker of cardiac failure, allowing samples to be stored at room temperature for up to five days prior to analysis if necessary. The appeal of the AQT90 FLEX analyser was its capability to determine NT-proBNP in less than 10 minutes, helping to speed workflow and reduce the sample rejection rate.
“After performing a comparison study to establish that the results from the existing BNP test and the AQT90 gave the same clinical picture, we changed to routine testing of NT-proBNP. The system is easy to use – the software is very straightforward – and, as it is already calibrated, we simply run the QC and then analyse samples whenever they arrive.”
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