Determination of serum ferritin using immunoturbidimetry or chemiluminescent detection in comparison with radioimmunoassay a compendium of a methodological juxtaposition.

BACKGROUND

The implementation of a ferritin assay other that by the RIA technique may be necessary in several laboratories. Indeed the RIA method presents limitations for routine determination: use of radioactive isotopes, high cost of reagents and low capacity (manual technique). This method was not suitable for all laboratories.

METHODS

The aim of this study was to compare the IRMA method with non-isotope methods (immunoturbidimetric assay and chemiluminescence detection) for determination of ferritin in serum samples.

RESULTS

Analytical performances of Olympus-, Horiba ABX- and Beckman Coulter- ferritin are good. In a whole population (n = 124) linear regression analysis indicated excellent agreement between ferritin values obtained on all patients leading to a coefficient of determination r2 > 0.96, 0.95 and 0.96 with Olympus-Ferritin, Horiba ABX-ferritin, and Beckman-ferrritin, respectively. Results of Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated the excellent concordance of ferritin methods with samples.

CONCLUSION

Immunoturbidimetric methods, particularly the Horiba ABX method on Pentra 400 and immunoenzymometric assay with chemiluminescence detection with Beckman Coulter on Access 2, are a reasonable alternative to the established RIA for all laboratories.