Preliminary evaluation of the Iris IQ 200 automated urine analyser

The IRIS IQ 200 automated urine analyser is a microscope associated to digital imaging software, and is able to classify urine particles into 12 categories and report quantitative results. We evaluated this analyser with respect to linearity and precision, and compared results with microscopic examination of the urine sediment, and with the measurement of urine strips in a CLINITEK 500 analyser. The assay was linear between 10 and 1030 particles/microL. The detection limit was 6 particles/microL. Intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 1.9% and 2.3%. Results by the IQ 200 analyser showed highly significant correlations with those of the urine sediment (erythrocytes: rho=0.68; leukocytes: rho=0.60; epithelial cells: rho=0.66; p<0.001), and urine strips (erythrocytes: rho=0.67; leukocytes: rho=0.66; p<0.001). These results indicate that the IRIS IQ 200 analyser may play a useful part in the automated examination and measurement of urine specimens.