WO1989008264A1

WO1989008264A1 - Process for automatic, fully selective analysis of blood or its constituents

Info

Publication number: WO1989008264A1
Application number: PCT/EP1989/000213
Authority: WO
Inventors: Uwe W. Ballies
Original assignee: Ballies Uwe W
Priority date: 1988-03-04
Filing date: 1989-02-28
Publication date: 1989-09-08

Abstract

In a process for automatic, fully selective analysis of blood or its constituents, an electronic code carrier (3) without battery is attached to a primary vessel (2). Patient and sample data are stored without contact in the electronic code carrier (3) so as to be readable whenever and wherever an electronic reading head is available. Blood samples can thus be analysed automatically and fully selectively without the use of a central data processing installation.

Description

Process for the automatic fully selective analysis of blood or blood components

The invention relates to a method for the automatic, fully selective analysis of blood or blood components without the use of a central EDP.

Up to now, the automatic analysis of blood or blood components has been carried out using a central EDP, with the aid of which requirement cards created during the blood collection were evaluated. The request card is sent to the laboratory together with a blood sample located in a primary vascular system. There it is read into the EDP. The read-in data are processed by a control program which, depending on this, controls one or more automatic analyzers, to which the requirements for the respective sample are transmitted in this way. A disadvantage of the known method is that the request card by hand must be completed and that ^* on the other hand - a central EDP for ^' . the processing of the individual samples is required.

. Another known method is to

'5 Before entering the blood, code the patient card with a number identifying the patient, which also appears in the bar code on the request card. The same number is also printed in the bar code on a small strip that is glued to the primary vascular system. In the ^" analysis ^" , the coded number is read into the EDP, for example by a scanner. The central EDP system then tells what is to be done with the sample in question, ie it controls the automatic analyzer. Difficulties arise In this method, badly applied bar code strips 5, which often cannot be read easily, Another difficulty is that all the samples placed in a machine must first have been run through the analysis program before a sample can be found again can, because this is the only way a computer system can currently identify 0 the individual sample.

A further practiced method consists in assigning an in-laboratory bar code number to the sample to be processed, which is printed in the laboratory and attached to the primary vascular system containing the sample 5. This has the advantage that the bar code strips are always legible. The laboratory also keeps track of where a sample is located. However, a disadvantage of this method is that coding laboratory errors may occur in the ₀ transfer of data from the registration card to the.

Finally, it is known from DE-AS 27 33 074, both

Provide primary vessels as well as secondary vessels with markings of ₅ and the markings with the help of a central EDP assign to each other. "Primary vascular system" is understood to mean a main sample container which is filled with blood immediately when blood is drawn. "Secondary vascular system", on the other hand, means sub-sample containers that are filled with sub-samples taken from the primary vascular system.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method for the automatic, fully selective analysis of blood or blood components, which automatically identifies the individual samples ^""" without the use of a central computer and is inexpensive and works less prone to interference than known methods.

A method with the following steps is used to solve this task: filling blood into a vascular system; the vascular system is provided with an electronic code carrier before the filling of blood or immediately after the blood is drawn or later in the laboratory; Patient data and, if appropriate, further data are stored in the electronic code carrier, which either were entered before the blood was drawn or were entered immediately afterwards or at a later point in time and, if necessary, are completed in further steps; the vascular system provided with the code carrier is inserted with its complete data set into an analysis apparatus independently of a central EDP; the data electronically stored in the code carrier control the analysis apparatus and cause it to process the sample automatically, fully selectively; the analysis result can then be printed out in connection with all patient data directly on the analyzer.

This makes it possible to do blood tests automatically and without

Use a central EDP and create a complete name-related report. The prerequisite for this is that the electronic code carrier has an electronic niche i memory in non-erasable version or in erasable version for read / write ^; contains egg function. Such a code carrier is, for example, from NEDAP-N. ^' V. available in Groenlo, Holland. An embodiment of this .; Code carrier is described in DE-PS 27 48 584. The known NEDAP code carrier is equipped with an IC specially developed for the application, so that it can be accommodated in a space-saving manner in a plastic tablet of, for example, 12 mm in diameter and 4 mm in height. The encoding of the code carrier consists of polycarbonate. It is currently able to store, for example, 200 alphanumeric positions without a battery.

With the aid of the method according to the invention, the data set of a primary vascular system can be electronically copied and transferred completely and without confusion to secondary vascular systems. The secondary vascular systems can then be processed like primary vascular systems with a full data set. Another advantage of the method according to the invention is that the battery-free electronic code carriers work practically without wear and can be reused indefinitely.

It is also advantageous that the analysis results can be entered directly into the memory of the electronic code carrier, so that all sample data are always available immediately and without the use of a central EDP. All you need to do is bring the electronic code carrier close to a reading head connected to a PC and controlled by it, then the sample data can be displayed on the PC screen immediately and, if necessary, also printed out.

By combining electronic data carriers and

Automatic sample distributor, it is also possible to carry out other operations in addition to the analysis, for example the To further distribute vascular systems via an automatically working sample distribution station without a central EDP being necessary for this. In this way, the intrinsically prone to bidirectional data traffic with a central computer is avoided. In addition, simpler PCs can be used instead of an expensive, fast mainframe.

Conveniently, the battery-less electronic code carrier ^'is the accommodated in a pocket of a bag-stored blood ö in a cap of a primary vascular system.

If a blood bank bag is equipped with a pocket-like port set into which the batteryless electronic code carrier is welded, then the blood bank can be read by a read / write head _. Provide or can transmit data without the operating personnel having access to the data. In this case, the electronic code carrier thus represents a discrete label for the blood bank bag.

If the electronic code carrier is used in connection with a tubular vascular system, for example in connection with a primary vascular system or a secondary vascular system, it is expediently accommodated in a cap which is clipped onto the bottom of the primary vascular system. As a result, the diameter of the separating tube does not increase, but only its length, so that the separating tube provided with the electronic code carrier can be easily inserted into the sample plate of a known analytical device.

device can be used .-; can, r

If the ^* separation tube is a tube with a closed "Borden, the cap needs to seat ⁷ of the .Codeträgers merely a recess for inserting the code carrier Tab¬ lettering have. However, if the separation tube a cannula cone, the cap has a needle plug The code carrier tablet then lies on the other side of the cannula stopper and is held by plastic webs. In one embodiment of the invention, the webs are not connected to one another, so that the code carrier tablet comes out of the Cap can be broken out.

The battery-free electronic code carrier can also be inserted into an adapter tube if the primary or secondary vessel system used for the examination has a smaller diameter than conventional separation tubes and therefore has to be inserted into the sample plate of an analyzer anyway with the aid of an adapter tube.

In addition, a batteryless electronic code carrier can also be attached to other laboratory vessels, for example to microtiter plates and similar containers.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the subclaims.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to figures, without being restricted to these exemplary embodiments.

Figure 1 shows a first embodiment. Figure 2 shows a second embodiment.

Figure 1 shows a separation tube 2 for blood collection with a symmetrical separation element 6 according to DE-PS 27 11 336.

The separating tube 2 is closed at its upper end by a stopper 1 and has a flat tube bottom 18 which is provided on the outside with a retaining ring 44. The tube 2 consists of transparent plastic, which compresses during centrifugation and thereby widens somewhat in diameter, so that the separating element 6 can be moved to the tube bottom 18 under the influence of centrifugal force.

A plastic cap 30 is provided under the tube bottom 18, the outer diameter of which corresponds to the outer diameter of the separating tube 2, as is indicated by the dashed lines. The bottom of the cap 30 is closed; its upper edge, however, is open, so that the cap 30 has the shape of a flat cup, in which a battery-free electronic code carrier 3 is inserted in the form of a tablet, for example 12 mm in diameter and 4 mm in height, with a cast-in electronic circuit.

In order to attach the cap 30 to the separating tube 2, it has at its upper edge an inwardly directed annular bead 42 which interacts with the retaining ring 44 formed on the tube bottom 18 in the U direction and can snap behind it. As a result, the cap 30 is simply clipped onto the tube bottom 18 of the separating tube 2, whereby its diameter does not increase, but the length increases by the height of the cap 30. With a code carrier height of approximately 4 mm, the cap height should be approximately 5 to 8 mm. However, it is clear to the person skilled in the art how to choose the correct dimensions for the cap 30. Figure 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention, in which only the lower part of a separation tube 2 ^{1 is} shown. The separation tube 2 ¹ in this embodiment has a cannula cone 19 for attaching a cannula. The cannula, not shown, is used in a manner known per se for taking blood from a patient's vein. After the blood has been drawn, the separating tube 2 'must be closed in order to be able to be used directly as a primary vessel system in the sample plate of an analytical device, for example of the BM / Hitachi 717 type. For this purpose, a cap 40 is clipped onto the tube bottom 18 of the separating tube 2 ′, which has an intermediate wall 22, onto which a cannula stopper 48 and a conical apron 46 concentrically surrounding the cannula stopper 48 are formed. In the second embodiment, the cap 40 again has an upper edge which is provided with an annular bead 42 in order to snap behind the retaining ring 44 of the tube bottom 18. The distance between the intermediate wall 22 and the annular bead 42 is selected such that the cannula stopper 48 is pressed into the cannula cone 19 in a sealed manner when the cap 40 is clipped onto the tube bottom 18, the conical apron 46 performing a centering and holding function. It is clear that for this purpose the cannula stopper 48 is formed on the side of the intermediate wall 22 which faces the annular bead 42. It is also clear that the cannula plug 48 has a slightly smaller diameter than the cannula bore at its tip for easier entry into the cannula bore, but increases in diameter in the direction of the intermediate wall 22, so that the cannula bore is reliably sealed.

As can be clearly seen in FIG

Cannula plug 48 facing away from the intermediate wall 22 a

Formed depression in which the electronic code carrier 3 is inserted. The code carrier 3 is held by webs 23, which only extend so far over the top of the code carrier 3 that it can be pressed into the cap 40 and broken out again using a suitable tool. In the illustrated embodiment, six webs are provided for this purpose; however, it is clear that any other number of webs is also conceivable.

It is also conceivable to completely enclose the electronic code carrier 3 in the cap 40, provided that the manufacturing costs allow this. At the moment, however, it should be more expedient to reuse battery-free electronic code carriers of the type described in the introduction, and thus break out of the cap 40 or remove it from the cap 30 when the caps 30 or 40 are discarded.

Claims

Claims. '

1. A method for the automatic, fully selective analysis of blood or blood components without the use of a central EDP, comprising the steps:

- filling blood into a vascular system;

- The vascular system is provided with an electronic code carrier before ^" the ^" filling of blood or immediately after taking blood or later in the laboratory;

- Patient data and possibly further data are stored in the electronic code carrier, which were either entered before the blood was drawn or were entered immediately afterwards or at a later point in time and, if necessary, are completed in further steps;

the complete data set of the vascular system provided with the code carrier is introduced into an analysis apparatus independently of a central EDP;

- The data electronically stored in the code carrier control the analysis apparatus and cause its automatic, fully selective processing of the sample; and

- The analysis result can now be printed out in connection with all patient data directly on the analyzer.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a battery-free electronic code carrier is used as the electronic code carrier (3), which contains an electronic memory in non-erasable version or in erasable version for read / write functions.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in the case of a blood bag as the primary vessel system, the batteryless electronic code carrier is accommodated in a pocket of the blood bag, which is either molded onto the blood bag as an extension or welded onto it.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the code carrier is attached to the bottom (18) of the tube (2) in a blood sampling tube as the primary or secondary vessel.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the code carrier (3) in a to the bottom (18) of the tube (2) attachable cap (30; 40) integrated, inserted, poured or clipped onto this.