Determination of serum ferritin using immunoturbidimetry or chemiluminescent detection in comparison with radioimmunoassay a compendium of a methodological juxtaposition.

BACKGROUND: The implementation of a ferritin assay other that by the RIA technique may be necessary in several laboratories. Indeed the RIA method presents limitations for routine determination: use of radioactive isotopes, high cost of reagents and low capacity (manual technique). This method was not suitable for all laboratories.
METHODS: The aim of this study was to compare the IRMA method with non-isotope methods (immunoturbidimetric assay and chemiluminescence detection) for determination of ferritin in serum samples.
RESULTS: Analytical performances of Olympus-, Horiba ABX- and Beckman Coulter- ferritin are good. In a whole population (n = 124) linear regression analysis indicated excellent agreement between ferritin values obtained on all patients leading to a coefficient of determination r2 > 0.96, 0.95 and 0.96 with Olympus-Ferritin, Horiba ABX-ferritin, and Beckman-ferrritin, respectively. Results of Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated the excellent concordance of ferritin methods with samples.
CONCLUSION: Immunoturbidimetric methods, particularly the Horiba ABX method on Pentra 400 and immunoenzymometric assay with chemiluminescence detection with Beckman Coulter on Access 2, are a reasonable alternative to the established RIA for all laboratories.