Beckman Coulter and IRIS Diagnostics Offer Automated Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate Analysis Systems Through Distribution Agreement with Alifax

Beckman Coulter, Inc., and IRIS Diagnostics, announced the launch of the Alifax automated Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) analysis system through a distribution agreement with Alifax. The automated ESR analysis systems are designed to fit all workloads, including small hospitals, large reference laboratories, core laboratories and satellite locations. The automated ESR system delivers increased productivity, efficiencies in laboratory labor utilization and reduced turnaround times (TAT), along with improved patient outcomes and physician satisfaction.

“This patented technology is a breakthrough in turnaround time – generating subsequent results every 35 seconds or less*, versus one hour for standard ESR analysis by the reference Westergren method,” said John Blackwood, senior vice president, Product Management, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics. “The small sample volume and STAT capability are expected to reduce ER waiting times and significantly minimize the need for patient specimen redraws.”

Employing patented technology, the Alifax ESR system provides fully automated, hands-off operation in a small footprint and processes the same whole blood tubes from the hematology analyzer.

ESR is a common blood test, and is a non-specific measure of inflammation. There are approximately 75-80 million ESR tests ordered annually in the U.S. Standard ESR analysis is a measure of red cells settling over time, typically one hour, and variations occur in the results, depending on the degree of specimen viscosity and presence of inflammatory proteins. Alifax’s technology measures the kinetics of red blood cell aggregation by capillary photometry and reads aggregation over a ten second period.