Direct Clearance Cholesterol Assays Aid Effective Diagnosis of Lipid Disorders

Randox Direct Clearance HDL and LDL Cholesterol: Clearing the way for accurate testing

Accurate and precise HDL and LDL cholesterol measurement is necessary for the effective diagnosis and treatment of lipid disorders. It is of greater importance however that the assays used for such diagnosis are capable of measuring HDL and LDL cholesterol not only for normal samples but abnormal samples too.

The Randox HDL cholesterol reagent uses a direct clearance method for HDL cholesterol measurement. This method gives improved accuracy and reproducibility when compared to alternative measurement techniques due to the fact that all non-HDL cholesterol components such as vLDL, chylomicrons and LDL cholesterol are removed from the sample in the first reaction step- these components are not masked as in other HDL measurement methods. This is significant as it has been noted that when dealing with samples with high triglyceride or bilirubin levels, masking methods cannot clearly differentiate between HDL and non-HDL cholesterol components – effectively negating the effects of the test. Due to the fact Randox HDL cholesterol uses a clearance method these interferences are not an issue. In the second step of the reaction, HDL cholesterol is specifically measured resulting in a high degree of accuracy, even with abnormal samples, using the Randox method.

The Randox LDL cholesterol assay also utilises the clearance method for the accurate diagnosis of patient samples. The advanced reagent formula enables rapid clearance of all non-LDL lipoproteins from a sample, enabling the diagnosis of LDL cholesterol only. Furthermore, patient samples where diabetes, liver disease or high triglyceride levels are a concern can be accurately measured using the Randox LDL cholesterol assay.

The Friedewald calculation is often used in LDL cholesterol measurement however the accuracy of this method is inadequate due to its dependency on “normal” triglyceride levels. At high levels of triglycerides a large number of samples are misclassified using the Friedewald calculation leading to significant discrepancies between calculated LDL cholesterol and the true value. The Randox LDL cholesterol clearance method eliminates this problem and offers a superior alternative which ensures truly accurate results are produced, even with abnormal samples.

Further beneficial features offered by Randox HDL and LDL cholesterol assays include:

• Liquid ready-to-use reagents for optimum convenience and ease of use
• Extensive measuring ranges ensuring abnormal analyte concentrations are detected
• Applications available detailing instrument specific settings for a wide range of clinical chemistry analysers
• Excellent on-board stability, minimising reagent waste
• Wide variety of kit sizes available offering greater choice