Analytical performance of the new analyzer BA 400 Biosystems with LED technology

The BA 400 LED technology (BioSystems S. A., Bar-celona, Spain) is a new, fully automated analytical plat-form designed for clinical chemistry, drugs of abuse, urine chemistries, and special protein and serology as-says that uses spectrophotometry, turbidimetry, and po-tentiometry principles. This analyzer offers an on-board capacity of 60 photometric and three different ion-selec-tive electrode (ISE) tests as well as the possibility to as-sess lithium. Turnaround times are the same as those declared by the BioSystems S. A. company (400 pho-tometer tests/h and 320 ISE tests/h). The innovative feature of this analyzer, suitable for a small to medium sized routine system, uses a new tech-nology based on LED (Light Emitting Diodes) optical system which is reliable and stable long-term. This new element increases efficiency with a reduced environ-mental impact because the LED lumen lifetime is 50,000 hours, with virtually no maintenance, unlike the current lamps. The photometric range is up to 3.5 absorbance (Abs) and internal resolution is 0.0001 Abs, while a reference photodiode eliminates the interference of scattering light. The aim of this study was to evaluate the analytical per-formance of the BA 400, comparing the results obtained to those of the Cobas 8000 (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) and the Architect c4000 (Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL, U.S.A.), according to the