Automation and other recent developments in clinical chemistry.

The decade 1980 to 1990 was the most progressive period in the short, but turbulent, history of clinical chemistry. New techniques and the instrumentation needed to perform assays have opened a chemical Pandora's box. Multichannel analyzers, the base spectrophotometric key to automated laboratories, have become almost perfect. The extended use of the antigen-monoclonal antibody reaction with increasing sensitive labels has extended analyte detection routinely into the picomole/liter range. Devices that aid the automation of serum processing and distribution of specimens are emerging. Laboratory computerization has significantly matured, permitting better integration of laboratory instruments, improving communication between laboratory personnel and the patient's physician, and facilitating the use of expert systems and robotics in the chemistry laboratory.