Automated Immunoassay Enables Management of High Vitamin D Workloads

Laboratories in the United Kingdom have adopted a new automated immunoassay for increasing vitamin D workloads.

The fast and accurate immunoassay for circulating 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) provides a reliable indication of vitamin D status and ensures faster turnaround of results.

The Elecsys vitamin D total assay has helped The Doctors Laboratory (TDL) Whitfield Street Laboratory (London, United Kingdom) to deal with extremely high workloads of around 3,000 vitamin D assays per week.

Recent news coverage in the UK has highlighted the increasing number of people suffering vitamin D deficiency–ranging from children who play less outside and are therefore exposed less to sunlight, to pregnant women and the elderly–population groups where the regulation of calcium and other nutrients required for strong healthy bones is most vital. Laboratories are consequently experiencing increased demand for vitamin D testing.

The Elecsys vitamin D Total assay is available for both Roche (Basel, Switzerland) Modular and cobas analytical platforms. It detects the 25(OH) metabolite of both vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 in serum or plasma, ensuring an accurate indication of vitamin D status. This assay has been standardized against the Liquid chromatography–Mass spectrometry/ Liquid chromatography-Mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) reference method and demonstrates good functional sensitivity (<5 ng/mL) and precision, particularly at lower levels, making it ideal for effective patient management.

The launch of the Elecsys vitamin D total assay allows Roche to offer one of the most complete bone marker assay menus available on a single platform. Together with the Elecsys assays for ß Crosslaps, Serum procollagen type 1 amino- terminal propeptide (P1NP), Osteocalcin, and parathyroid hormone (PTH), this allows a complete differential diagnosis of bone metabolism in patients at risk of, or having bone disease.

Related Links:
The Doctors Laboratory Whitfield Street Laboratory
Roche