Time and Labour Saving Assay to Identify Paracetamol Overdose

The Roche Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) 10 minutes-to-result assay is an easy to use and effective low-cost method for laboratories to incorporate into their routine testing menu. The assay is easily incorporated onto a Roche platform, which combined with ready-to-use reagents, ensures time and labour savings. Additionally, the 2-shot assay has no interference with the Paracetemol Antidode N-Acetylcysteine, making it extremely reliable for consistent patient follow-up.

Acetaminophen is a common drug used in many formulations due to its analgesic and antipyretic properties1 and chronic excessive use of acetaminophen can result in hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity2,3. Overdosage of acetaminophen can lead to severe hepatic damage and, if left untreated to hepatic failure4,5,6.

Early diagnosis of acetaminophen induced hepatotoxicity is vitally important – studies have shown that initiation of therapy within 16 hours of ingestion lessens the potential for hepatic injury and decreases the mortality rate7. Laboratories using the Roche Acetaminophen assay can provide rapid (10 minutes-to-result) and accurate quantitative determination of acetaminophen in human serum or plasma, allowing clinicians to instigate therapy at the earliest, potentially life-saving, opportunity.

The many assay benefits include: excellent inter- and intra-assay precision for safe and reliable results and consistency in patient follow-up; superior on-board stability for optimal reagent efficiency (even at only 1 sample per day); calibration curve stability; high sensitivity (≤1.2 μg/ml depending on the platform in use) and precision (≤ 2.0% CV on cobas® series and MODULAR ANALYTICS platforms; ≤ 5.8% CV on INTEGRA® platforms).

Roche has one of the most complete critical care portfolios and the most complete therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) menu available on a single platform. By consolidating critical care and TDM assays in this way, laboratory testing processes and workflow efficiency can be optimised to achieve significant time, labour and cost savings.