Evaluation of the DCA Vantage analyzer for HbA1c assay

Background: Measurement of HbA1c is key in monitoring diabetic patients in both laboratories and clinical units, where HbA1c results are used as part of patient education. Methods: We have evaluated the DCA Vantage®, a new device for immunological assay of HbA1c. HbA1c results obtained were evaluated in terms of precision, linearity, specificity and practicability, and were compared with results obtained by a Variant II® HPLC method. Results: The method exhibited intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation lower than 2.6% and 4.0%, respectively, and good correlation with the comparison HPLC method (r2=0.9776). No interference was noted in the presence of labile HbA1c or carbamylated hemoglobin. The new device exhibited improved practicability characteristics and allowed better sample identification, better management of quality control routines and greater connectivity possibilities compared to the previous DCA 2000® analyzer. Conclusions: This new analyzer exhibited analytical and practical characteristics very suitable for HbA1c assay for laboratory or point-of-care use according to good laboratory practice. Clin Chem Lab Med 2008;46:1195–8.