[Evaluation of the performance of an automatic coagulation tester: the Electra 700]

The Electra 700, an automatic coagulation tester recently available in France, was investigated for its performance on routine tests: Quick's test, APTT, thrombin clotting time test, assay of fibrinogen and prothrombin complex factors. Reproducibility was exceptionally good for Quick's test (CV less than 1%), excellent for the other tests (CV less than 3%), acceptability of the various commercial reagents very good, and standard linearity excellent. There was close correlation with manually obtained (electromagnetic B.M.) or semiautomated (KC 10) results (0.9948 to 0.9345). The apparatus is entirely automatic once specimens have been loaded, and it is particularly adapted to dealing with long series of specimens (60 samples). Its original loading system makes it possible to carry out two types of test concurrently, as well as to insert emergency tests. Economically, the cost of disposables and "reagent loss" is satisfactory; however, all tests are carried out relatively slowly, though this is compensated for by the fact that the reactions are completely automatic.