The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a widely used diagnostic test, influenced by all physiological and pathological conditions that can bias blood rheology by interfering factors. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the CUBE 30 touch ESR analyzer in samples with preanalytical variables, as lipemia, hemolysis, and icterus or in presence of fibrinogen., Moreover we focused to define the maximum time limits to ensure a reliable ESR measure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) is an easy test used to diagnose and monitor inflammatory and infectious diseases. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the performance of three ESR automated analyzers, VES-MATIC 5, CUBE 30 TOUCH, and MINI-CUBE, involving four Italian polyclinics in Rome, Siena, Como, and Arezzo, as well as inter-site variability assessment to detect possible device-dependent and operator-dependent influences.
Methods: Accuracy analysis was carried out by analyzing the same samples with all three instruments and comparing them with the Westergren method.
(1) Background: The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is widely diffused in hematology laboratories to monitor inflammatory statuses, response to therapies (such as antibiotics), and oncologic diseases. However, ESR is not a specific diagnostic marker but needs to be contextualized and compared with clinical and other laboratory findings. This study aimed to investigate the performance of two automated instruments, namely the DIESSE CUBE 30 TOUCH (DIESSE, Siena, Italy) and the Alifax Test 1 (Alifax Srl, Polverara, Italy), in comparison with the gold standard, the Westergren method, in lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) indirectly measures blood fibrinogen, and it is altered by all those pathological conditions that modify the aggregation of red blood cells. The international guidelines by the International Council for Standardization in Hematology (ICSH) define the Westergren method as the gold standard for ESR, although it is completely operator-dependent, time-consuming, and requires a patient's blood consumption. Therefore, the validation of new ESR analyzers is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of vaccines has allowed the containment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at a global level. The present work aims to add data on vaccination by evaluating the level of neutralizing antibodies in individuals who have received a three-vaccination series. For this purpose, we ran a surveillance program directed at measuring the level of IgG Abs against the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) and surrogate virus neutralizing Ab (sVNT) anti-SARS-CoV-2 in the serum of individuals undergoing vaccination.
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