Determining reagent quality in device for treating cytological/histological specimen involves transferring and treating carrier element having test material according to predefined sequence in treatment stations and evaluating test material

摘要

Determining reagent quality in a device having treatment stations (3) for the treatment of at least one of cytological and histological specimen involves providing a carrier element (8) that comprises at least one test material; transferring and treating the carrier element having test material according to a predefined sequence in the treatment stations together with the specimens; evaluating the test material by an evaluation device after treatment in the last treatment station in sequence. Determining reagent quality in a device having treatment stations (3) for the treatment of at least one of cytological and histological specimen involves providing a carrier element (8) that comprises at least one test material; transferring and treating the carrier element having test material according to a predefined sequence in the treatment stations together with the specimens; evaluating the test material by an evaluation device after treatment in the last treatment station in sequence. The method further involves treating a reference carrier element having a test material by the reagents of the treatment stations in the predefined sequence, and after treatment in the last treatment station in sequence, determining the characteristic properties of the test material; comparing the characteristic properties of the test material due to the treatment with reference data; predefining at least one threshold value and storing it in the evaluation device, and checking whether a similarity exists between the characteristic properties of the test material and the reference data; informing a user when a similarity does not exist; setting of the threshold value in a user-defined relationship to the reference data; and controlling replacing and metering of the treatment stations. The test material is at least one of a biological, organic, inorganic, and synthetic material; or cell and a tissue section. The evaluation device comprises at least one sensor (5) for reading at least one of electromagnetic radiation, radioactive radiation, optical density, fluorescence, or enzymatic activity. The sensor comprises at least one of charge-coupled device (CCD) chip, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, lateral buried charge accumulator and sensing transistor array (LBCAST) sensor and the sensor of a densitometer. The carrier element is at least one of basket, transport magazine (4), specimen slide, film, plastic plate, and textile fabric. An independent claim is included for an apparatus for determining reagent quality in the device comprising the carrier element, at least one test material carried by the carrier element, and an evaluation device for evaluating the test material.