Bringing Digital Chemistry into Clinical Laboratories

A new diagnostic system with digital imaging capabilities aims to enhance lab capabilities across the globe through multi-test processing, dry slide technology, and a full testing environment for accurate testing in a waterless environment.

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a global leader in diagnostic platforms and technologies, recently announced that its new digital chemistry system known as the VITROS XT 7600 has received the CE mark ahead of its launch overseas. The new technology combines Ortho’s proprietary dry slide technology with its new advanced digital imaging capabilities to provide laboratories with the ability to perform two separate lab tests simultaneously.

The new technology aims to introduce digital chemistry into clinical lab management through powerful data intelligence, operational improvements, and a new standard for quality and efficiency that will help clinical laboratories keep up with the ever-changing landscape of global healthcare. Jay Snyder, Ortho’s vice president of business fields in clinical laboratory platforms and solutions, said that digital chemistry is the most promising aspect of the new integrated system.

“While Ortho’s VITROS XT 7600 is an integrated clinical chemistry and immunoassay platform, the real innovation is digital chemistry,” he said. “That’s important because, generally speaking, clinical chemistry tests represent more than 50 percent of the test volume in a typical hospital laboratory. Ortho’s VITROS XT 7600 was designed to improve operational efficiency and result quality in the busiest area of the clinical laboratory.”

Ortho’s exclusive dry slide technology comes with a detection system composed of a high-precision LED illumination source that uses digital imaging capture and analysis capabilities. This combination of high-precision illumination and digital image capture and analysis using microslides could help laboratories ensure precision and accuracy with workflow improvement when processing two tests simultaneously.

“Unique to Ortho and the VITROS family of analyzers is a proven thin-film, dry slide technology that can meet the needs of the core laboratory with solutions that span the volume continuum, from mid-volume laboratories to high-volume laboratories,” Snyder said. “Other clinical chemistry solutions on the market use liquid reagents and reagent probes, reusable cuvettes, and fixed sample probes that all require washing with copious amounts of highly purified water, which generates a large volume of liquid waste. Further, with the development work ongoing with XT microslides and the future ability to perform two tests simultaneously, the workflow and assay quality benefits of VITROS technology may be offered to high-volume laboratories.”

The microslide aspect allows for a full testing environment on a postage stamp-sized piece of film that will enable precise and accurate testing in waterless environments. And with the digital imaging technology, the new system will provide advanced optics that will capture more information from testing than ever before—something that Snyder believes will help improve labs around the world.

“Nothing about the clinical laboratory environment is straightforward,” Snyder said. “Because of the myriad real-world challenges that today’s lab technicians face, they need high-quality, easy-to-use solutions that improve quality workflow. Ortho’s VITROS XT 7600 meets those needs and is backed by our award-winning Ortho Care service and support team. At Ortho, we understand the laboratory ecosystem and are focused on providing solutions that help address our customers’ biggest challenges.”

With its new CE mark, Ortho began shipping instruments to countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia in July. Earlier this month the company also submitted a 510K application with FDA, with hopes to launch the technology in the United States as soon as possible.