JPH09257804A - Method and apparatus for automatically analyzing multiple items - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the efficiency of a clinical inspection by dispensing and measuring a sample according to the already set measurement priority order if a predetermined amount or more of sample is not in a sample vessel. SOLUTION: An operating unit 22 displays a specimen amount necessary to measure the measuring items of the specimen registered by an operator. The operator compares the specimen amount with the specimen amount in a vessel 1 with a scale, and sets a priority order to the registered items if the specimen amount in the vessel 1 is little. The apparatus dispenses the specimen according to the priority order. That is, a specimen disk 72 installed with a plurality of specimens is controlled by a computer 3, rotated and moved under a specimen dispensing mechanism 5, and the vessel 1 sequentially dispenses predetermined amount in a reaction vessel 6. The vessel 6 moves to a reagent adding position in a reaction tank 9, is added with an amount of reagent from a reagent vessel 12, and agitated by an agitator 13. After agitating, a multiple wavelength photometer 15 senses absorbance from the vessel 6 passing through luminous flux, the computer 3 converts it to a specimen concentration, and displays the result on a display 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-item automatic analyzer for clinical examination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A multi-item automatic analyzer for analyzing a plurality of components (measurement items) contained in a biological sample such as blood with respect to a large number of samples is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-2024. Among all the items for which the measurement request was registered for the sample, the method of dispensing and measuring the sample was performed in order from the item with the longest reaction time. Further, when the reaction times were the same, a method of measuring in the order of registered items of analysis conditions was used.

[0003]

The method of determining the measurement order adopted in the conventional multi-item automatic analyzer is basically the processing capacity of the apparatus, that is, from the start of measurement per sample to the output of the measurement result. The emphasis is on minimizing the time. This conventional measurement sequence determination method can shorten the time from the start of measurement to the output of measurement results when the sample amount is sufficient to analyze all the items registered for the measurement request. However, when the sample amount is not enough to analyze all the items registered in the measurement request, for example, the sample amount required to analyze all the measurement request items is 200 μl, and the sample set by the operator is set. When the sample amount was less than 200 μl, the item having a short reaction time or the item after the registration order of the analysis conditions, that is, the item having a slow measurement order was not measured due to lack of the sample. By the way, generally, in a clinical test, when a certain sample is measured, the key item of the sample and related items of the key item are often measured together. This key item is different for each medical condition or each specimen. Therefore, if the conventional method for determining the measurement order is adopted, if the sample amount is not sufficient to analyze all the items registered for the measurement request, the items or analysis with a short reaction time are automatically performed. There is a possibility that the key items of the sample may not be measured because the items after the registration order of conditions are not measured due to insufficient sample. If some items cannot be measured due to lack of sample, it will be necessary to obtain the sample again. In this case, re-acquisition of the sample requires labor and time. In addition, it is inconvenient to reacquire the sample when the measurement result is urgently needed. For sample reacquisition, for example, when the sample is a serum component, it is necessary to collect blood from the patient, and if the collected blood does not go through a process called pretreatment such as centrifugation, the operator obtains serum. I can't do that. On the other hand, when the measurement is performed according to the priority order of each sample of the measurement items regardless of the sample amount of all samples, the time from the start of measurement to the report of the measurement result becomes long. In addition, since automatic analyzers of recent years are generally used for multi-sample / multi-item processing, it is very problematic in terms of operability to set priorities for all measurement items of all samples.

The object of the present invention is to adopt a measurement order according to the sample amount of the sample, that is, a conventional measurement order with priority on processing capacity when there is a sufficient sample amount to measure all the items requested for measurement. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of deciding to adopt a measurement order of priority of importance and an automatic analyzer using the method of deciding the measurement order when a sufficient sample amount is not available.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problem] The method for solving the problem is to determine a sufficient amount by judging whether the sample amount is sufficient for the measurement of all the items registered for the measurement request. If there is a problem, the method for determining the measurement order that gives priority to shortening the time from the start of measurement to reporting the measurement result is adopted. Achieved, allowing the operator to select the measurement order by specimen.

The multi-item automatic analyzer of the present invention has a function of presenting the sample amount required for measurement for each sample to the operator, and a function of setting the measurement priority order for a sample having no sample amount necessary for measurement. It is characterized by holding.

After setting the sample in the scale-equipped sample container, the operator registers the measurement item of the sample from the operation unit, and when registering the measurement item, the apparatus presents the operator with the sample amount necessary for the measurement. When the sample amount of the set sample is smaller than the sample amount required for the measurement presented by the device, the operator sets the priority of the measurement items. The device performs measurement according to the order of priority for the samples for which the measurement item priority is set, and for samples without the priority order, the measurement order for shortening the measurement result reporting time, that is, the item with the longest reaction time. I do. In this way, by selecting the measurement order according to the sample amount, it is possible to perform the measurement with both the measurement result reporting time and the measurement importance.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, the operator registers the measurement items of the sample to be measured in the operation unit 22. The operation unit 22 displays the sample amount necessary for measuring the sample for which the measurement item is registered. The sample amount required for measurement displayed on the operation unit 22 is compared with the sample amount of the sample contained in the calibrated sample container 1. As a result of the comparison of the sample amounts, when the sample amount of the sample contained in the sample container 1 is smaller than the sample amount required for the measurement displayed on the operation unit 22, the operator performs measurement registration on the sample from the operation unit 22. The priority order is set to, and the apparatus performs the sample dispensing operation according to this priority order for the sample. As a result of the comparison of the sample amounts, when the sample amount of the sample contained in the sample container 1 is larger than the sample amount required for the measurement displayed on the operation unit 22, the device responds to the measurement items registered in the sample. Dispense samples in order from the item with the longest time. For measurement items with the same reaction time, the sample is dispensed according to the order of analysis condition setting. After setting the analysis conditions and registering the measurement items of the measurement sample, the apparatus starts the analysis operation. A plurality of sample containers 1 each containing a sample are set on a sample disk 2. The sample disk 2 is controlled by the computer 3 via the interface 4. In addition, the sample disc 2 includes the sample dispensing mechanism 5 according to the order of the samples to be analyzed.
Rotate to the bottom. The sample in the sample container 1 is the operation unit 2
The sample pump 7 connected to the sample dispensing mechanism 5 sets the reaction container 6 by the setting according to the comparison result of the sample amount required for the measurement indicated by 2 and the sample amount of the sample contained in the calibrated sample container 1. A predetermined amount is sequentially dispensed therein. The reaction container 6 into which the sample has been dispensed moves to the reagent addition position in the reaction tank 9 and a predetermined amount of the reagent aspirated from the reagent container 12 is added by the reagent pump 11 connected to the reagent dispensing probe 8. The stirring mechanism 13 stirs the reaction liquid.
The reaction container 6 passes through the light flux emitted from the light source, and the absorbance at this time is detected by the multi-wavelength photometer 15. The detected absorbance signal enters the computer through the interface 4 via the A / D converter 16 and is converted into the concentration of the sample. The density-converted measurement result is printed out from the printer 23 through the interface 4, and the CRT 21
Will be displayed. After the photometry, the reaction container 6 is moved to the position of the cleaning mechanism 19, the reaction liquid is drained by the container cleaning pump 20, and the reaction liquid is washed with water and used for the next analysis.

In FIG. 2, the operator registers the measurement request item for each sample. First, the operator inputs the sample number of the sample in the sample number input area 26, and inputs the position for setting the sample in the sample container position input area 27. Next, in the measurement item input area 28, the measurement item to be measured for this sample is input. The required sample amount display area 29 displays the sample amount necessary for analysis of the measurement item input in the measurement item input area 28. When the sample amount of the prepared (used) sample is smaller than the sample amount shown in the required sample amount display area 29, the operator selects the priority setting screen display key 30 to select the priority determination screen. After setting the priority for the measurement item of this sample, the registration key 31 is selected to complete the registration of the measurement item of this sample. When the sample amount of the prepared (used) sample is larger than the sample amount shown in the required sample amount display area 29, the registration key 31 is selected and the registration of the measurement item of this sample is completed.

In FIG. 3, when the operator selects the priority determination screen display key 30 of FIG. 2, the measurement items of the sample (“item A”, “item B”, “item C”,
The priority of the measurement order is set for "item D" and "item E". The priority order input area 33 displays the priority order of each measurement item displayed in the item name display area 32.
Enter After input is complete, the priority setting end key 34
Is specified, the setting of the measurement order priority of the measurement items measured in the sample is completed.

[0012]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION The effects of the present invention are exhibited by improving the efficiency of clinical tests using a multi-item automatic analyzer. In particular, when the operator cannot secure a sufficient sample amount, for example, when using the serum of a pediatric patient as a sample, and when the test requires urgency, it is output from the measurement results of highly important items, The operator can obtain the minimum necessary measurement results even if the sample amount becomes insufficient. For example, when the measurement items of a sample are item A, item B, and item C, the importance of each item requested to be measured for this sample is item A =
Small importance, item B = medium importance, item C = high importance, and reaction time of each item is item A = long, item B = medium, item C = short, and sample of this sample Even if the quantity is such that only two items among item A, item B, and item C can be measured, the operator sets item C in order of importance for this sample, so that the operator can select item C. The measurement result of item B can be obtained, and significant measurement can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a multi-item automatic analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a measurement item registration screen of the multi-item automatic analyzer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a priority order setting screen of the multi-item automatic analyzer of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Sample container, 5 ... Sample dispensing mechanism, 6 ... Reaction container, 8 ...
Reagent dispensing probe, 9 ... Reaction tank, 12 ... Reagent container, 13
... multi-wavelength photometer, 15 ... A / D conversion converter.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A reaction line to which a row of reaction vessels is transferred, a sample dispenser for dispensing a sample from the sample vessel to the reaction vessel on the reaction line, and a reagent to the reaction vessel on the reaction line. A multi-item automatic instrument equipped with a reagent dispensing device for dispensing, a photometer for measuring the reaction liquid in which the sample and the reagent dispensed in the reaction container are measured, and an operating section for setting the analytical conditions In the analyzer, a multi-item automatic analysis method is characterized in that when the sample container does not have a predetermined amount or more, a sample is dispensed and measured in accordance with a measurement priority set in advance by an operator. 2. When registering measurement items for each sample,
A multi-item automatic analyzer characterized by having a function to inform the operator of the amount of sample required for measurement.