Comparison of a Chemiluminescent Immunoassay with Two Microparticle Enzyme Immunoassays for Detection of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen

A comparative evaluation of the following commercial immunoassays for the detection of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) was performed: the Abbott AxSYM, Abbott IMx, and DPC IMMULITE assays. The specificity was 100% for all assays. Twelve samples were identified and were confirmed to be positive for HBsAg by all three methods. One additional sample was identified as reactive and was confirmed to be positive by the Abbott AxSYM assay only. Prior to confirmation testing the DPC IMMULITE assay produced significantly fewer false-positive results than the Abbott AxSYM assay (P < 0.05).