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Improving laboratory workflow through automated pre‐processing of SurePath specimens for human papillomavirus testing with the Abbott RealTi m e assay
Author(s) -
Sargent Alexandra,
Theofanous Ioannis,
Ferris Sarah
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1111/cyt.12737
Subject(s) - medicine , human papillomavirus , workflow , cervical screening , colposcopy , ascus (bryozoa) , population , liquid based cytology , medical physics , gynecology , computer science , cervical cancer , botany , ascospore , spore , environmental health , cancer , database , biology
Abstract Background Cervical specimens collected in liquid‐based cytology ( LBC ) are used for cervical screening in the UK . The Abbott RealTime high‐risk human papillomavirus (hr HPV ) assay for the detection of 14 hr HPV types is approved by the English NHS Cervical Screening Programme ( NHSCSP ). As per manufacturer's instructions, pre‐analytic processing of LBC involves a manual vortex and liquid transfer into a secondary tube. In high‐throughput settings, hands‐on time for pre‐processing is considerable and poses the potential for human error. Implementation of hr HPV primary screening planned for 2019 accompanied by centralisation of services is a major change for the NHSCSP , increasing the demand for availability of automated pre‐analytics. This study evaluated a custom‐configured work‐table setup of the Tecan Freedom EVO designed to automate pre‐processing of BD SurePath LBC prior to HPV testing on the Abbott m2000. Methods Automatically and manual pre‐processed specimen results were compared (primary screening population n = 307; triage population n = 169). Results Excellent agreement of overall hr HPV results (98.1%; k: 0.95) was observed. On average, it takes approximately 1.5 minutes hands‐on‐time per sample to process manually compared to 45 minutes to aliquot 48 samples using the Freedom EVO 150. Conclusion The Tecan worktable configuration designed to automate and control pre‐analytics required for preparing SurePath LBC samples for HPV testing using Abbott RealTime resulted in assay performance comparable to that following the manufacturer validated manual process. It significantly reduces hands‐on‐time and allows for complete specimen identification tracking and documentation of process control.