Comparison of 3 Automated Immunoassays for Hepatitis B Surface Antigen / 대한진단검사의학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is one of the most important serological markers used to diagnose hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Automated immunoassays have been developed, meeting the current clinical requirement of HBsAg assays over the years. This study was performed to determine the degree of agreements between 3 kinds of HBsAg assay systems. METHODS: Serum samples from 425 patients were assayed by the HBsAg assay systems of Elecsys (Roche Diagnostics, Germany), ADVIA Centaur (Bayer Diagnostics, USA), and AxSYM (Abbott Laboratories, USA). RESULTS: The concordance rates among the 3 assays were 100%. A total of 249 (58.6%) specimens were positive, and their index values showed a weak correlation between the 3 assays; nevertheless, positive specimens with low levels (<10) of index values in one system also presented low values in other systems, and all of them were confirmed by neutralization assays. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 automated HBsAg assay systems presented a high level of concordance.