Evaluation of four different HPLC devices for hemoglobinopathy screening

Abstract

Objective: Hemoglobinopathies are a common public health problem in Turkey. In the screening of these disorders in population, cation-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is accepted as the gold standard method. In this study, the aim was to assess four different HPLC devices used in hemoglobinopathy screening. Materials and methods: A total of 58 blood samples were analyzed with four different HPLC methods (Bio-Rad variant II, Agilent 1100, Tosoh G8 and Trinity Ultra2 trademarks). Results: The comparison study demonstrated a good correlation between the results of each HPLC analyzer and the reference value obtained by averaging all the HbA(2) results belonging to the methods tested in the study [(Tosoh G8 (r=0.988), Bio-Rad variant II (r=0.993), Agilent 1100 (r=0.98) and Trinity Ultra2 (r=0.992)]. HbA(2) determination in the presence of HbE was interfered in both BioRad variant II and Tosoh G8. Conclusion: The analyzers were found to have compatible HbA(2) results but with accompanying different degrees of proportional and systematic biases. HPLC analyzers may be affected by different hemoglobin variants at different HbA(2) concentrations, which is an important point to take into consideration during the evaluation of HbA(2) results in thalassemia screening.