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Different methods of putting samples through have been invented, but usually involve placing test tubes of sample into racks, which can be moved along a track, or circular carousels that rotate to make the sample available.
Samples can be processed in batches, or continuously.
These are machines that process the bulk of the samples going into a hospital or private medical laboratory. And the results should be out as quickly as possible. There will often be a method that can get urgent specimens moved more quickly through.
The types of tests required are often enzyme levels (such as many of the liver function tests), ion levels (e.g. sodium and potassium), and other tell-tale chemicals (such as albumin or creatinine).
Simple ions are done with ion selective electrodes, that let one type of ion through, and measure voltage differences. Enzymes are measured by the rate they change one coloured substance to another; the results for enzymes are given as an activity, not a concentration of enzyme. Other tests use colorimetric changes to determine the concentration.
Turbidity (as created when an antibody reacts with a test compound) can also be measured with these machines.
Examples of these types of machines are:
Because many substances (such as hormones or drugThis article is about chemical substances. For other meanings of the word "drug", see Drug (disambiguation A drug is any substance that can be used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process or processes in the body. The word "drs) have no colour, and cannot cause another substance to change colour, antibodies must be used to detect them.
The concentration of these compounds is often too low to cause a measurable increase in turbidityTurbidity is a cloudiness or haziness in water (or other liquid) caused by individual particles that are too small to be seen without magnification, thus being much like smoke in air. Liquids can contain suspended solid matter consisting of particles of m when bound to antibody, so other, more specialised, methods must be used.
Examples of these analysers include:
These are used to perform full blood countA full blood count FBC or complete blood count CBC is a test requested by a doctor or other medical professional that gives information about the cells in a patient's blood. Automated blood count Blood for a FBC is usually taken into an EDTA tube to stops, erythrocyte sedimentation rateThe erythrocyte sedimentation rate ESR , also called a sedimentation rate sed rate or Biernacki Reaction is a non-specific measure of inflammation that is commonly used as a medical screening test. To perform the test, anticoagulated blood is placed in ans (ESRs) or coagulationCoagulation is the thickening or congealing of any liquid into solid clots. This article is about a specific medical usage of the term with reference to human blood's mechanisms for forming scabs over wounds. The coagulation of human blood is a fairly com tests.
Blood counting machines sample the blood, and pass it through a thin tube, counting the number of cells going past, and calculating their size.
Automated coagulation analysers first add calcium to a sample (which undoes the anticoagulantAn anticoagulant is a substance that prevents coagulation; that is, it stops blood from clotting. A group of pharmaceuticals called anticoagulants can be used in vivo as a medication for thrombotic disorders. Some chemical compounds are used in medical eq) then trigger it to clot, measuring the amount of time it takes to do so.
Automatic ESR readers, while not strictly analysers, hold a rack of samples for an hour, then after an hour determine how far the red cells have fallen, by detecting levels with light beams.
Examples of full blood count machines are:
Coagulation machines include: