Apparatus for cross-checking determinations in clinical analysis

Abstract: A data checking apparatus (1) for receiving and checking observation data on a plurality of observation items including a first and a second observation item, the observation data being obtained by analyzing a single object with a plurality of analyzers including a first and a second analyzer (2, 3), comprising : input means (7) for beforehand inputting correlation data indicating correlation among the plural observation items ; storage means (6) for storing the input correlation data ; judgment means (5) for crosschecking the observation data on the plural items to form a judgment as to whether the received observation data conforms to the stored correlation data ; and output means (8) for outputting the formed judgment.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1.Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for checking determinations in clinical analysis, particularly an apparatus for judging reliability of plural types of observations, for example, by urinary qualitative analysis and by urinary sediment analysis. 2.Description of Related Art Conventionally, for urinalysis, two types of analysis are generally known, that is, qualitative analysis and sediment analysis. In the qualitative analysis, in general, a urinary sample to be analyzed is automatically determined to provide negative/positive observations such as (-), (±), (+), etc. on several observation items. For this purpose, a test sheet on which pieces of reactive papers for the observation items are affixed is dipped into the urinary sample for a required period of time, and the colors of the pieces after the dipping are compared with reference colors for determination (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei2(1990)-27262). In the urinary sediment analysis, concrete components in a urinary sample to be analyzed are automatically classified and enumerated (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei5(1993)-322885). In the qualitative analysis, errors in determination are sometimes found on some observation items because of inhibitory reactions. For example, the determination on occult blood (OB) is liable to present false negative in the presence of ascorbic acid, and false positive in the presence of hypochlorous acid. Therefore there is demand for a judging apparatus which easily judges the reliability of the determination on each observation item in the qualitative analysis. Further, such an apparatus needs to be so flexible that it may be adjusted or calibrated easily and accurately in judging condition. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in view of these circumstances, is to provide a data checking apparatus which is capable of obtaining observation data of a single object on a plurality of observation items and crosschecking the obtained observation data on the items to evaluate the reliability of the observation data. Therefore, the present invention provides a data checking apparatus for receiving and checking observation data on a plurality of observation items including a first and a second observation item, the observation data being obtained by analyzing a single object with a plurality of analyzers including a first and a second analyzer. The invention will be carried out according to appended independent claims 1 and 10. The present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to an embodiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a detailed view of a major portion of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary display in an embodiment; Fig. 4 illustrates another exemplary display in an embodiment; Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operations in major portions of an embodiment; Fig. 6 illustrates exemplary displays in an embodiment; Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary display in an embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The observation data on the plural observation items (the first observation item, the second observation item, etc.) can be obtained by analyzing the single object by the plural analyzers (the first analyzer, the second analyzer, etc.). In the present invention, the test object is urine of a mammal, for example. A human being is included in mammals. In the present invention, for example, the first analyzer may be a urinary sediment analyzer and the second analyzer may be a urinary qualitative analyzer. It is preferable that, when the observation item determined by the urinary sediment analyzer is at least one selected from red blood cells, white blood cells, casts and bacteria and the observation item determined by the urinary qualitative analyzer is at least one selected from occult blood, protein, nitrites and white blood cells, the correlation data is set to indicate correlation between at least one combination selected from the combinations of red blood cells with occult blood, white blood cells with white blood cells, casts with protein, and bacteria with nitrites, considering close correlation between each of these combinations. As the input means, a digitizing pad or a keyboard may be used. The storage means and the judgment means may comprise a microcomputer including CPU, ROM and RAM. As the output means, CRT, a liquid crystal display or a printer may be used. The urinary sediment analyzer may be an apparatus for analyzing concrete components in urine using a flowcytometer and outputting obtained analysis results as the observation data. The urinary qualitative analyzer may be an apparatus for dipping a test sheet into urine and outputting a degree of discoloration of the test sheet as the observation data. When the stored correlation data is represented as a region on a coordinate system with the plural observation items as parameters, the judgment means can judge the degree of correlation of the received observation data based on whether the coordinates of the received observation data are within said region or how far the coordinates of the received observation data are from said region. For any two of the plural observation items (e.g., the first and the second observation item), relevant correlation data may be represented on a two-dimensional coordinate plane. The two-dimensional coordinate plane may be represented as a lattice obtained by grading each of the determination ranges for the first and the second observation item into a plurality of ranks, and the correlation data may be input as data corresponding to the lattice. Embodiment The present invention will be hereinafter be described in details by way of example with reference to accompanying figures. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an embodiment of the data checking apparatus of the present invention. In Fig. 1, there are shown a data checking apparatus 1, a urinary sediment analyzer 2, a urinary qualitative analyzer 3 and a data receiver 4 for receiving observation data obtained by the urinary sediment analyzer 2 and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3. In this embodiment, the urinary sediment analyzer 2 is a conventional analyzer which automatically determines concrete components in a urine sample by a flow cytometer and outputs, as the observation data, numeral values obtained by analysis, and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3 is a conventional analyzer which automatically classifies the degree of discoloration of a urinary test sheet dipped in the urine sample into one of nine grade ranks and outputs a symbol of (-), (±), (2+), (3+), ..., or (7+) corresponding to the rank as the observation data. The data receiver 4, for example, receives the observation data provided directly or via a communication circuit from the urinary sediment analyzer 2 and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3 and inputs the observation data to a CPU 5. The observation data received by the data receiver 4 is stored in an observation data memory 6a of a RAM 6 via the CPU 5. A reference numeral 7 denotes a keyboard for inputting correlation data, observation items and ranks for grading the determination range. The ranks and the correlation data input by the keyboard 7 are stored in a rank-setting memory 6b and in a correlation data memory 6c of the RAM 6 respectively. A ROM 9 stores beforehand a control program for controlling the CPU 5, and a CRT displays the stored data, the observation data and judgment results. The urinary sediment analyzer 2 performs determination on quantitative observation items by classification and enumeration. The quantitative observation items include red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC 1), epithelial cells (EC), casts (CAST) and bacteria (BACT). The urinary qualitative analyzer 3 performs determination on qualitative observation items with a urinary test sheet. The qualitative observation items include occult blood (OB), protein (PRO), nitrites (NIT) and white blood cells (WBC 2). Combinations of the quantitative and the qualitative observation items which show close correlation are RBC x OB, WBC 1 x WBC 2, CAST x PRO and BACT x NIT, for example. Here, taking the combination of RBC x OB for example, the correlation data indicating correlation between RBC and OB is input beforehand by the keyboard 7. Then, the data checking apparatus 1 received the observation data on RBC and that on OB from the urinary sediment analyzer 2 and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3 respectively. Subsequently the CPU 5 judges whether the received pair of data conforms to the relevant correlation data and displays the judgment on the CRT 8. Operations in such a construction will now be described in detail. First, procedure for setting the correlation data indicating correlation between the observation items will be explained with reference to a flowchart in Fig. 5. Fig. 2 illustrates key arrangement on the keyboard 7. By actuating a setting key K1 and a rank setting key K2 (steps S1 and S2), a rank setting mode is obtained and a display for rank setting shown in Fig. 3 is displayed on the CRT 8. Then, by actuating a key K6, RBC which is one of the quantitative observation items is selected (step S3). Next, for each of ranks 0 to 8 on the display as shown in Fig. 3, a lower limit (LL) and an upper limit (UL) of RBC is set using cursor movement keys K14 and a numeric keypad K15 (step S4). By actuating an end key K16, the rank setting for RBC is completed (step S5). In Fig. 3, the upper limit (UL) for the rank 7 is set to "0," which means "infinity" and no limits is set for the rank 8. Similarly, WBC, Cast and Bact are sequentially selected using keys K7, K8 and K9, lower limits and upper limits are set for the ranks 0 to 8. Then by actuating a return key K17, the rank setting mode is finished (step S6). Next, by actuating the setting key K1 and a cross-check key K3 (steps S1 and S7), a region setting mode is obtained, and a display for region setting shown in Fig. 4 is displayed on the CRT 8. The region setting display has a two-dimensional coordinate plane with a quantitative observation item (SEDIMENT) and a qualitative observation item (DIPSTICK) plotted in abscissa and in ordinate respectively. Each of the abscissa and the ordinate is divided into nine ranks, and thus the display is provided with squares corresponding to the ranks for setting a region. The nine ranks 0 to 8 in the abscissa correspond to the figures shown in Fig. 3 which are set in the aforesaid rank setting mode. Correspondence of the nine ranks in the ordinate to observations obtained by the urinary analyzer 3 is provided beforehand to the ROM 7 so that the ranks 0 to 8 correspond to the observations (-), (±), (+), (2+), ..., (7+) respectively. Next, a cross-check item, RBC x OB, is selected by actuating a key K10 (step S8). As indicated with oblique lines in Fig. 4, a matching region where RBC and OB correlate with each other is fixed by the square using the cursor movement keys K14 and a key 4 (step S4). The fixed matching region can be canceled by the square using the cursor movement keys 14 and a key K5. Then the end key 16 is actuated to finish the region setting for RBC x OB (step S10). Similarly, crosscheck items, WBC x WBC, CAST x PRO and BACT x NIT, are selected one by one using keys 11, K12 and K13, and the matching regions thereof are fixed. Then by actuating the return key K17, the region setting mode is finished (step S11). Next, by actuating an execution key K18, an execution mode is obtained, in which the observation data obtained by the urinary sediment analyzer 2 and urinary qualitative analyzer 3 with respect to the same urine sample is read out from the observation data memory 6a and displayed on the CRT 8 as shown in Fig. 6. Figs. 6A and 6B show scattergrams based on observation data from the urinary sediment analyzer 2. Fig. 6C shows observation data from the urinary sediment analyzer 2 and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3 on observation items common to both the analyzers, i.e., RBC, WBC, EC, CAST and BACT, and Fig. 6D shows observation data on the other items, i.e., OB, PRO and NIT from the urinary qualitative analyzer 3. Each correlation between observation data on RBC and OB, WBC and WBC, CAST and PRO, and BACT and NIT is judged as to whether the coordinates of the observation data are within the relevant matching region fixed in the region setting mode. Any observation data outside the matching region is indicated with "?" as shown in Fig. 6C and 6D. Referring to Fig. 6C and 6D, "375.9" on RBC and "2+" on OB have "?". This means that the observation data on this combination is crosschecked and observed not to be within the matching region shown in Fig. 4. In other words, the square defined by the rank 6 in the abscissa corresponding to "375.9" and the rank 3 in the ordinate corresponding to "2+" is not within the matching region. Referring to Fig. 6C and 6D, the data with "?" is not reliable and the other data is reliable. Thus the data observed by the urinary analyzer 2 and the urinary qualitative analyzer 3 can be cross-checked for the evaluation of the reliability thereof. Further it is preferable that the observation data may be indicated with a sign such as * displayed in the square corresponding to the observation data on the region setting display presenting the matching region as shown in Fig. 7. By such a display, it can be easily seen how far the observation data is apart from the matching region, and accordingly the degree of the reliability of the observation data can be checked also with the eyes of a user. Though, in this embodiment, the ranges of the observation data corresponding to the ranks 0 to 8 in the ordinate in Fig. 4 are set beforehand in the ROM 7, alternatively the ranges may be optionally set by a user in the rank setting memory 6b just as the ranks in the abscissa. The data check apparatus 1 may be incorporated in either the urinary sediment analyzer 2 or the urinary qualitative analyzer 3. Additionally, the occult blood and the white blood cell in the qualitative observation items may be sometimes represented as (OB/Hb) and (L.EST.) respectively. According to the present invention, observation data on the same test object obtained by different analyzers are cross-checked, so that the reliability of the observation data can be easily evaluated.

Claims: Apparatus for checking determination in clinical analysis and evaluating the reliability of plural types of observation data corresponding to a plurality of observation items observed in a single clinical object and analyzed in a quantitative or qualitative manner with a plurality of analyzers (2,3), said apparatus comprising : receiving means (4) for receiving said observation data from the analyzers (2,3) ; storing means (6a) for storing said observation data ; input means (7) for beforehand inputting predetermined correlation data indicating correlation among a plurality of said observation items which can be analyzed in said clinical object ; storage means (6b,6c) for storing said predetermined correlation data ; judgment means (5) for cross-checking said received observation data related to said observation items to form a judgment as to whether said received observation data conforms to said stored predetermined correlation data ; and output means (8) to output said formed judgment, and characterized in that said apparatus further comprises means to represent said stored predetermined correlation data as a region on a coordinate system defined by parameters representing said plurality of observation items, and said judgment means (5) comprise means to judge the degree of correlation of said received observation data based on whether coordinates representative of the received observation data are within said region. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said means to represent said stored correlation data represent said correlation data as a region on a two dimensional coordinate system defined by parameters representing first and second observation items from said plurality of observation items, and said judgment means (5) form judgment based on whether coordinates representative of said received observation data on said two dimensional coordinate system are within said region. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said means to represent said stored correlation data represent said two-dimensional coordinate system as a lattice grading each of said parameters representative of said first and second observation items into a plurality of square regions wherein some of said square regions are considered as matching regions representative of a matching condition corresponding to said predetermined correlation data related to said observation items, this indicating that said received observation data corresponding to coordinates within said matching regions are reliable. Apparatus according to anyone of the claims 1-3, characterized in that said output means (8) comprises display means for displaying said coordinate system representing said correlation data and a sign representative of said coordinates of said received observation data on said coordinate system. Apparatus according to anyone of the claims 1-4, characterized in that said clinical object is urine of a mammal, the mammals including a human being. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the first of said plurality of analyzers is a urinary sediment analyzer (2) and the second of said plurality of analyzers is a urinary qualitative analyzer (3). Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said first analyzer (2) analyzes at least one selected from red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC 1), casts (CAST) and bacteria (BACT) as the observation item thereof, said second analyzer (3) analyzes at least one selected from occult blood (OB), protein (PRO), nitrites (NIT) and white blood cells (WBC 2) as an observation item thereof, and said correlation data indicates correlation of at least one combination of red blood cells (RBC) with occult blood (OB), white blood cells (WBC 1) with white blood cells (WBC 2), casts (CAST) with protein (PRO), and bacteria (BACT) with nitrites (NIT). Apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that said urinary sediment analyzer (2) further comprises an apparatus to output said observation data by analyzing concrete components in urine by a flowcytometer. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 6-8, characterized in that said urinary qualitative analyzer (3) comprises an apparatus for dipping a test sheet into urine to output a degree of discoloration of the test sheet as said observation data. Apparatus for checking determination in clinical analysis and evaluating the reliability of plural types of observation data corresponding to a plurality of observation items observed in a single clinical object and analyzed in a quantitative or qualitative manner with a plurality of analyzing methods, said apparatus comprising : receiving means (4) for receiving the observation data by means of said analyzing methods ; storing means (6a) for storing said observation data ; input means (7) for beforehand inputting predetermined correlation data indicating correlation among a plurality of said observation items which can be analyzed in said clinical object ; storage means (6b,6c) for storing said predetermined correlation data ; judgment means (5) for cross-checking said received observation data related to said observation items to form a judgment as to whether said observation data conforms to said stored predetermined correlation data ; and output means (8) to output said formed judgment, and characterized in that said apparatus further comprises means to represent said stored predetermined correlation data as a region on a coordinate system defined by parameters representing said plurality of observation items, and said judgment means (5) comprise means to judge the degree of correlation of said received observation data based on whether coordinates representative of the received observation data are within said region.

Inventors: ITOH CHISATO, KATAYAMA MASAYUKI, ITOH, CHISATO, KATAYAMA, MASAYUKI
Applicants: SYSMEX CORP, SYSMEX CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G06F19
IPC codes: G06F19