JP3624199B2 - Automatic blood analyzer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically analyzing sugar in blood, and more particularly to an automatic blood analyzer useful for testing for diabetes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, an automatic blood analyzer used in a diabetes test system includes a plasma analyzer that measures glucose in plasma and a blood cell analyzer that measures hemoglobin _A1c in blood cells. In this apparatus, a specimen separated into plasma and blood cells by centrifugation or the like is used. When a sample container containing such a sample arrives at the plasma analysis unit, the liquid level is detected while lowering the nozzle into the sample container, and the nozzle is further lowered by the amount of suction, and the plasma is aspirated and the plasma is aspirated. Measurement is performed. Next, when the sample container arrives at the blood cell analyzer, the nozzle is lowered to the bottom position of the sample container, the blood cells are sucked, and the blood cells are measured.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when a sufficient amount of sample is contained in the sample container, analysis can be performed by the above-described method. However, in the case of an anemic sample or a small amount of sample, the nozzle is moved to the bottom position of the sample container in the blood cell analyzer. When it is lowered, the suction port of the nozzle does not reach the blood cell, and the measurement result may not be output. In particular, in recent years, a piercing nozzle that can suck a sample without removing the cap of the vacuum sample container has been used, and this nozzle has a sapphire needle at the tip, so that the suction port is about 3 mm than the conventional nozzle. Since it is at a high position, there is a high possibility that anemia samples and trace samples cannot be measured in the blood cell analyzer.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic blood analyzer capable of measuring even an anemia sample or a trace amount sample.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a stirring unit for stirring a blood sample between the plasma analysis unit and the whole blood analysis unit, and the plasma is obtained from the blood sample separated into plasma and blood cells by the plasma analysis unit. after Tsu line analysis of the plasma aspirated, and stirred blood sample in the stirring section and whole blood state, followed by those for analysis by sucking blood sample of the whole blood condition by the whole blood analyzer It is. It is preferable that the agitating unit grips and rotates a sample container that houses the blood sample.
[0006]
In the invention of the above configuration, when leaving the plasma analysis unit, the blood sample is stirred by the stirring unit and becomes a whole blood state. In the whole blood analysis unit, the agitated whole blood specimen is aspirated, and as long as the specimen is filled up to the suction port of the nozzle, the blood cell components in the whole blood are sufficiently aspirated, Measurement is performed.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic layout of an automatic blood analyzer according to the present invention. A first rack introduction pool 1A, a first rack discharge pool 2A, a second rack introduction pool 1B, an error sample pool 3, and a second rack discharge pool 2B are arranged on the front side of the apparatus from the right. The first rack introduction pool 1A can be constructed by arranging a plurality of (for example, 10 racks) sample racks 5 that can hold a plurality of (for example, 10 specimens) sample containers 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the specimen container 4 contains a blood specimen that has been separated into plasma and blood cells in advance by a centrifuge or the like. On the outer surface of the sample container 4 is attached an identification label 7 with a barcode 6 as a sample identification code. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the first rack introduction pool 1A can sequentially transport the leading sample rack 5 in the vertical direction indicated by the arrow A and move it to the center of the apparatus. The sample rack 5 moved to the center can be moved in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow B for each hole pitch or continuously by the first lateral feed device 8A.
[0008]
The first rack discharge pool 2A can transport the measured sample rack 5 transported from the first rack introduction pool 1A by the first lateral feed device 8 in the vertical direction indicated by the arrow C and temporarily store it. It has become. The second rack introduction pool 1B has the same configuration as the first rack introduction pool 1A. The first sample rack 5 aligned with the first rack discharge pool 2A can be moved to the second rack introduction pool 1B in the direction of arrow D by the second lateral feed device 8B. The sample rack 5 that has moved to the center of the apparatus in the second rack introduction pool 1B in the direction of the arrow E is moved in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow F at every one hole pitch or continuously by the third lateral feed apparatus 8C. be able to. The second rack discharge pool 2B has the same configuration as the first discharge pool 2A, and the measured sample rack 5 conveyed from the first rack discharge pool 2A by the third lateral feed device 8C is indicated by an arrow G. It can be transported vertically and stored temporarily. In addition, the error sample pool 3 can be temporarily stored by transporting the sample rack 5 including the error sample transported from the second rack introduction pool 1B by the third lateral feed device 8C in the vertical direction indicated by the arrow H. It is like that. Examples of error samples include a whole blood sample, a plasma minimal sample, a plasma sample, a liquidless sample, a barcode reading error sample, and the like.
[0009]
Between the first rack introduction pool 1A and the first rack discharge pool 2A and above the first lateral feed device 8A, there is a specimen container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9A, a specimen container length sensor 10, a barcode reader. 11 and a suction nozzle 12 are arranged. Similarly, between the second rack introduction pool 1B and the second rack discharge pool 2B and above the third lateral feed device 8C, there is a specimen container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9B, a specimen container length sensor 10, A barcode reader 11 and a suction nozzle 12 are provided.
[0010]
As shown in FIG. 2, the specimen container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9 </ b> A grips a portion from the upper end of the tube to which the identification label 7 is not attached to 5 mm with a nail, and in this state, the specimen container 4 is read by the barcode 6. And then rotated once at about 30 rpm, then it can be lowered to the original rack position. The sample container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9B has the same configuration, but both low-speed rotation (about 30 rpm) and high-speed forward / reverse rotation (about 1500 rpm) are possible.
In the sample container length sensor 10, since the sample containers 4 have different lengths of 75 mm and 100 mm, the length of each sample container 4 is identified, and the sample container lifting / lowering mechanism 9 is used according to the length. By changing the raising / lowering amount of the specimen container 4, the specimen container 4 can be securely grasped or the barcode 6 can be read accurately.
[0011]
The barcode reader 11 has a conventionally known structure for reading the barcode of the identification label attached to the outer surface of the sample container 4.
The suction nozzle 12 is a pierce-type nozzle having a sapphire needle 12a capable of piercing the cap of the specimen container 4 at the tip, and a suction hole 12b in the vicinity of the sapphire needle 12a. The suction nozzle 12 sucks plasma from the specimen container 4 and moves and discharges it to a reaction layer (not shown) of a plasma analyzer 15 described later.
[0012]
On the other hand, a plasma analyzer 15, a whole blood analyzer 16, a printer 17, and a controller 18 are arranged on the back side of the apparatus from the right side. The plasma analyzer 15 measures and analyzes sugars such as glucose and glycoalbumin in the collected plasma. The whole blood analyzer 16 measures and analyzes glycohemoglobin and the like from the aspirated whole blood. The printer 17 is a device that outputs analysis data obtained by the plasma analysis measuring instrument 15 and the whole blood analysis measuring instrument 16.
Each of the above devices is controlled by a control device 18 having a microcomputer and a memory.
[0013]
Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.
[0014]
First, in step 101, the first sample rack 5 among the sample racks 5 that are waiting to be aligned in the first rack introduction pool 1A is vertically fed in the direction of arrow A, and in step 102, the sample rack 5 is moved by the first lateral feed device 8A. After one-port lateral feed in the direction of arrow B, the length of the sample container 4 is read by the sample container length sensor 10 in step 103. If it is determined in step 104 that the container length is 75 mm, the sample container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9 is lowered according to the length in step 105, and if it is determined in step 106 that the container length is 100 mm, in step 107. The specimen container lifting mechanism 9 is lowered according to the length. Next, the sample container 4 is gripped at step 108, the sample container 4 is raised at step 109, the sample container is rotated at a low speed (about 30 rpm) at step 110, and the bar of the sample container 4 is scanned by the barcode reader 11 at step 111. Read code 6.
[0015]
When the reading of the barcode 6 is completed, the rotation of the sample container 4 is stopped in step 112, the sample container 4 is lowered and returned to the original position in step 113, and after the sample container 4 is released in step 114, the step In 115, the sample rack 5 is laterally fed by 1 port in the direction of arrow B by the first lateral feed device 8A. Subsequently, in step 116, the liquid level is detected while lowering the suction nozzle 12, and the nozzle is further lowered by the amount of suction, and in step 117, plasma is sucked by the suction nozzle 12. Subsequently, the suction nozzle 12 is raised at step 118, moved to the reaction layer of the analyzer 15 at step 119, and plasma is discharged from the suction nozzle 12 at step 120. Then, in step 121, it is determined whether or not it is the final port of the sample rack 5. If it is not the final port, the process returns to step 102 and the above steps are repeated. If it is the final port, the sample rack 5 is discharged vertically in the direction of arrow C in step 122 and aligned with the first rack discharge pool 2A. In step 123, the sample rack 5 is horizontally moved in the direction of arrow D by the second lateral feed device 8B. It is sent and transferred to the second rack introduction port 1B.
[0016]
Next, in step 124, the first sample rack 5 among the sample racks 5 that are waiting to be aligned in the second rack introduction pool 1B is vertically fed in the direction of arrow E. In step 125, the sample rack 5 is moved by the third lateral feed device 8C. , The length of the sample container 4 is read by the sample container length sensor 10 in step 126. If it is determined in step 127 that the container length is 75 mm, the specimen container lifting / lowering rotation mechanism 9 is lowered in accordance with the length in step 128. If it is determined in step 129 that the container length is 100 mm, step 130 is performed. The specimen container elevating mechanism 9 is lowered according to the length. Next, the sample container 4 is gripped at step 131, the sample container 4 is raised at step 132, the sample container 4 is rotated at a low speed (about 30 rpm) at step 133, and the barcode reader 11 is used to move the sample container 4 at step 134. Read bar code 6.
[0017]
When the reading of the bar code 6 is completed, in step 135, the sample container 4 is rotated forward and backward at high speed (about 1500 rpm) to stir the blood sample inside. As a result, the blood sample that has been separated into plasma and blood cells in the sample container becomes a whole blood state. Therefore, the sample container 4 is lowered and returned to the original position in step 136, and after the sample container 4 is released in step 137, the sample rack 5 is moved by one port in the direction of arrow F by the third lateral feed device 8C in step 138. Cross feed. Subsequently, in step 139, the suction nozzle 12 is lowered to a position slightly higher than the bottom of the tube, and in step 140, whole blood is sucked by the suction nozzle 12. Subsequently, the suction nozzle 12 is further raised in step 141, moved to the reaction layer of the analyzer / measuring instrument 16 in step 142, and whole blood is discharged from the suction nozzle 12 in step 143. Then, in step 144, it is determined whether or not it is the final port of the sample rack 5. If it is not the final port, the process returns to step 125 and the above steps are repeated. If it is the final port, the sample rack 5 is discharged vertically in the direction of arrow G in step 145 and aligned with the second rack discharge pool 2B.
[0018]
As described above, the blood sample separated into plasma and blood cells in the sample container 4 is analyzed by sucking only the plasma in the plasma analysis unit 15, and the whole blood analysis unit 16 agitates the blood sample to analyze the blood sample. After leaving the blood state, the whole blood is aspirated for analysis. Therefore, instead of aspirating blood cells from a small blood cell layer, blood cells are aspirated from a large amount of a whole blood sample that is a mixture of the remaining plasma and blood cells. But it can be reliably sucked.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, only the plasma of the separated sample is aspirated and measured in the plasma analyzer, and the whole blood sample stirred by the agitator in the whole blood analyzer is measured. Since the sample is aspirated, it is possible to sufficiently aspirate even an anemia sample or a small amount of sample, and any sample can be measured.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an automatic blood analyzer.
2 is a perspective view of a specimen container ascending / descending rotation mechanism, a liquid level detection device, and a suction nozzle of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart following FIG. 3;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 ... Sample container, 6 ... Bar code (identification code), 7 ... Identification label, 9B ... Sample container raising / lowering rotation mechanism (stirring part), 11 ... Bar code reader, 12 ... Aspiration nozzle, 15 ... Plasma analysis measuring device, 16 ... Whole blood analyzer.

Claims (2)

The agitating portion for agitating the blood sample between the plasma analyzer whole blood analyzer is provided, the analysis of the plasma was Tsu line by sucking the blood plasma from the separated blood sample in the plasma and blood cells in the blood plasma analyzer Thereafter , the blood sample is agitated by the agitation unit to obtain a whole blood state, and then the whole blood analysis unit is aspirated and analyzed by the whole blood analysis unit. The automatic blood analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the stirring unit grips and rotates a sample container that stores the blood sample.

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