JPH1019900A - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable correspondence even if the amount of a specimen is small. SOLUTION: A distribution amt. for first examination at a time of usual use, a distribution amt. for first examination at a time of reduced amt. use and a plurality of distribution amts. for re-examination are set to a memory part 32 at every item. In the case of a small amt. of an indicated specimen, the first examination condition at the time of reduced amt. use set to the memory part 32 is read to determine a distribution amt. and, when the indicated specimen is not little, the first examination condition at the time of usual use is read to determine the distribution amt. of the specimen. In the case of a small amt. of the indicated specimen, a measured result is corrected so as to correspond to a usual distribution condition corresponding to the distribution amt. used in a reduced amt.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for measuring the concentration or activity value of a target component in a sample containing multiple components such as serum and urine, and more particularly, to an automatic analyzer for measuring multiple items at once. And an automatic analyzer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic analyzer is provided with a reaction line in which reaction vessels are arranged, and adjacent reaction vessels share different items. There is an automatic analyzer referred to as a single-multi type that can perform the measurement of the temperature. A single / multi-type automatic analyzer is a sample sampling mechanism for dispensing a sample into a reaction container for reacting a sample with a reagent, a reagent injection device for injecting a reagent into the reaction container,
An absorptiometer that measures the absorbance of the reaction solution in the reaction vessel,
A reaction disc holding a plurality of reaction vessels, a rotation drive mechanism for rotating the reaction disc, a washing mechanism for the reaction vessel, a warm water tank for keeping the reaction solution in the reaction vessel warm,
And a control unit for controlling the operation of each unit and calculating the concentration or activity value of the specimen based on the absorbance from the absorptiometer.

Generally, in order to reduce the burden on a patient, it is desirable that a small amount of blood be collected. Especially for newborns, there are many cases where only a very small amount of blood can be actually collected. It is also conceivable that the collected blood sample is lost due to an accident.

In a conventional automatic analyzer, the amount of a sample as an analysis condition of an item to be measured is fixed. Although there are automatic analyzers that can set multiple sample volumes, it is now possible to set the sample volume for re-examination (re-examination) as well as one type of sample volume for the first test (first test). It is just that. There may be more than one type of sample volume for retest. That is, the sample amount of the initial test and the sample amount of the retest are set for each item, and when the items are requested and analyzed, all the items are analyzed with the initial sample amount set for each item. After the results are obtained, the items that need to be retested are analyzed with the retest sample amount according to the contents. For example, when a very high value is obtained for a certain item and exceeds the measurement limit, the same result will be obtained even if the test is performed again with the sample amount of the first test. But,
There is no automatic analyzer that can set conditions so that the amount can be reduced as the sample amount for the first test.

Further, since the sample probe is filled with pure water, and the sample is sucked and discharged through the pure water, the sample is diluted in addition to the sample amount actually used for dispensing. An extra amount is needed to prevent this. Furthermore, a sample for the dead volume in the sample container is also required.

[0006]

In the conventional automatic analyzer, when a certain item (often a plurality of items) is analyzed, even if it is known from the beginning that the sample amount is small, the analysis is started as it is. There is only. In that case, there is no guarantee that all specified items can be measured. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to dilute the sample, but this is time-consuming and has a problem that an error due to dilution occurs. An object of the present invention is to be able to cope with a case where the sample amount is small.

[0007]

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a control unit 30 for controlling the operation of each unit and calculating the concentration or activity value of a specimen based on the absorbance from an absorptiometer includes: When an item and a sample dispensing condition are input from the input unit 34 such as a keyboard at the time of sample measurement, the control unit 30 matches the sample dispensing condition from the stored value of the sample dispensing amount in the storage unit 32. A sample selection mechanism for controlling the sample sampling mechanism according to the selected sample dispensing amount, and correcting the measurement result according to the used dispensing amount so as to correspond to a normal dispensing condition. I do. The operation control section 38 is a section including a ROM provided with a sample dispensing program in the sample sampling mechanism, and is instructed by the control section 30 for controlling the entire operation of a sample dispensing amount for the item, and according to the dispensing amount. A sampling operation is performed.

FIG. 2A shows the operation of setting the sample dispensing conditions in the storage unit 32. The storage unit 32 stores, for example, the following Table 1.
As shown in the figure, the initial test dispensed volume during normal use (initial test condition 1), the initial test dispensed volume during reduced use (initial test condition 2), and a plurality of Set the pipetting volume for retest (retest conditions 1, 2, ...).

[0009]

[Table 1]

The initial test conditions include an initial test condition 1 representing the dispensed volume during normal use, which is the initial test condition for all items in the normal sample, and an initial test condition for all items in the small designated sample. Initial detection condition 2 at the time of using the weight reduction is set. As the re-inspection conditions, re-inspection conditions 1 indicating the dispensed amount in the item to be reduced in re-examination, and conversely, re-inspection conditions 2 to indicate the dispensed amount in the item to be increased in re-inspection are set. The dispensing condition at the time of using the reduced amount of the first inspection condition 2 may be shared with the condition of the reduced amount dispensing of the reexamination condition 1. Compared with the condition setting of the conventional automatic analyzer, the point that the condition setting of the initial detection condition 2 can be performed is new.

FIG. 2B shows the sample analysis operation at the first test. From the input unit 34, it is specified whether or not each sample is a small amount designated sample. Storage unit 3 for small designated samples
The initial test conditions at the time of using the reduced amount set in 2 are read out to determine the dispensing amount. If the sample is not a small amount designated sample, the initial inspection conditions at the time of normal use are read out and the sample dispensing amount is determined. You.
In the sample sampling mechanism, a sample is dispensed according to those conditions and measurement is performed. In the case of a small amount of the designated sample, the measurement result is corrected so as to correspond to a normal dispensing condition according to the dispensed amount used by reducing the amount. If re-examination is required as a result of the measurement, the sample dispensed amount is determined according to the measurement result, and the measurement is repeated.

[0012]

FIG. 3 shows an example of an automatic chemical analyzer to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 2 denotes a reaction disk, and reaction vessels 4 also serving as cuvettes are arranged in a row along a cuvette roller 3 to form an annular reaction line 5.
A sample sampling mechanism 6 is arranged near the reaction line 5 for injecting a sample into the reaction container. In the sample sampling mechanism 6, the sample cups 7 are arranged along the circumference of the sampling table 8, and a sample dispenser 9 is arranged for dispensing a sample from the sample cup 7 at the sample suction / collection position 13. . A dispensing nozzle 10 is provided at the tip of the sample dispenser 9. The dispensing nozzle 10 moves along the movement path 11 between the reaction container at the sample dispensing position 14 and the sample cup at the sample aspirating and collecting position 13. Moving. Travel route 11
A washing pot 12 is provided on the upper side so that the nozzle 10 can be washed.

A reagent injection device 16 is arranged near the reaction line 5 for injecting a reagent into the reaction container. In the reagent injecting device 16, a reagent container 17 is arranged along the circumference of the reagent tray 18, and a reagent dispenser 19 is arranged for dispensing a reagent from the reagent container 17 at the reagent suction and sampling position 23. . A dispensing nozzle 20 is provided at the tip of the reagent dispenser 19, and the dispensing nozzle 20 moves along a movement path 21 between the reaction container at the reagent dispensing position 24 and the reagent container at the reagent suction and sampling position 23. Moving. A cleaning pot 22 is arranged on the moving path 21 so that the nozzle 20 can be cleaned.

A washing and dehydrating device 2 is further provided on the reaction line 5.
6 and an absorptiometer 27 along the reaction line 5. The reaction line 5 rotates intermittently in the direction of arrow 15. Although not shown in the figure, a warm water tank for keeping the reaction solution in the reaction vessel 4 under the reaction line 5 is provided. In addition, a control unit (not shown) that controls the operation of each unit and calculates the concentration or activity value of the specimen based on the absorbance from the absorptiometer 27 is also provided.

When the measurement is performed in the two-reagent system, another reagent injection device having the same configuration as the reagent injection device 16 is arranged along the reaction line. A first reagent is dispensed from the one reagent injector to the reaction container 4 and a second reagent is dispensed from the other reagent injector at the respective reagent injection positions.

A plurality of washing nozzles are arranged in the washing and dehydrating unit 26 along the reaction line 5 to suck a reaction solution, supply and discharge a washing solution, supply water for measuring a reaction container blank,
The process of discharging and drying the water is sequentially performed. Pure water or a detergent solution is used as the cleaning liquid. Sample dispensing, reagent dispensing, stirring, and reaction vessel washing during one cycle are performed when the reaction disk is stopped, and optical reading of the reaction solution in the reaction vessel by the absorptiometer 27 is performed when the reaction disk is rotated.

[0017]

According to the present invention, in addition to the dispensed volume at the time of normal use, the dispensed volume at the time of reduced use can be set as the sample dispensed volume for the initial test. By measuring with the reduced and dispensed amount, it becomes possible to secure the number of measurement items without performing a troublesome operation involving errors such as dilution.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the vicinity of a control unit according to the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing an operation of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a flowchart showing an operation for setting a dispensing condition, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of an automatic chemical analyzer to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Reaction disk 4 Reaction container 5 Reaction line 6 Sample sampling mechanism 9 Sample dispenser 16 Reagent injecting device 19 Reagent dispenser 30 Control unit 32 Storage unit 36 Selection unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sample sampling mechanism for dispensing a sample into a reaction container for reacting the sample with a reagent, a reagent injection device for injecting the reagent into the reaction container, and measuring an absorbance of a reaction solution in the reaction container. Absorbance photometer, a reaction disk holding a plurality of the reaction vessels, a rotation drive mechanism for rotating the reaction disk, a washing mechanism for the reaction vessels, and a water bath for keeping the reaction solution in the reaction vessels warm When,
An automatic chemical analyzer including a control unit for controlling the operation of each unit and calculating a concentration or an activity value of the sample based on the absorbance from the absorptiometer, wherein the control unit stores a sample dispensed amount. A storage unit is provided for each item that can store not only the initial test dispensed volume during normal use and the retested dispensed volume, but also the initial test dispensed volume during reduced volume use. A selection unit that selects a sample dispensing condition that matches the sample dispensing condition from the sample dispensing amount stored value of the storage unit when an injection condition is input, and controls the sample sampling mechanism according to the selected sample dispensing amount An automatic analyzer that corrects the measurement result so as to correspond to a normal dispensing condition according to a used dispensing amount.