Dear health care providers,

Following our earlier notes on our work to replace the Roche Cobas and Abbott Architect analyzers used nationally for chemistry testing, we’d like to share another update with you. In November, we will be moving to the Abbott Alinity testing platform at our Burnaby Reference Lab (BRL) and Victoria Reference Lab (VRL) by replacing Roche Cobas and Abbott Architect analyzers in a staggered approach. The testing performed on these analyzers includes clinical chemistry, immunoassays, and infectious disease (serology) assays.

Key dates in our implementation include November 4-12 and November 26-28. Please note there may be some delay in the turnaround time of test results during the downtime to complete this work. Any urgent or time-sensitive test results will be prioritized to ensure quality patient care – please indicate STAT on the requisition. During this work, our patient service centres will remain open, and we will continue to collect samples as normal

As a reminder, Tables 1 – 3 in the PDF provide a list of tests that will be moving to the new testing platform, along with a description of notable changes. A temporary notification will be included with all test results indicating a change in testing platform and highlighting any other significant changes (as applicable and described in Tables 1 – 3. This notification will be provided for 3 months from the date of implementation. Please note, minor updates to interpretive comments for some of the tests will also be implemented to align with current clinical guidelines and improve interpretation of laboratory results.

For any clinical or technical questions regarding this change please contact the following LifeLabs biochemists:

Thank you,

Romina Reyes MSc MD FRCPC

BC Medical Director

T   604-507-5259

E  Romina.Reyes@LifeLabs.com