The cobas® 6500 is an advanced integrated urine analysis system from Roche Diagnostics, designed to deliver productivity, efficiency, consolidation, and workflow innovation for the laboratory. This system combines two main modules: the cobas u 601 Urine Analyzer (for strip testing) and the cobas u 701 Microscopy Analyzer (for sediment analysis), providing a comprehensive solution for urine diagnostics.

Components and Key Features of cobas® 6500:

• Flexible Modular Design: The system can operate independently with individual modules (cobas u 601 or cobas u 701) or combine both to form the integrated cobas® 6500 urine analysis workstation.
• Gold Standard Automated Operation:
  • cobas u 701 performs fully automated urine sediment microscopy, providing high-quality images and reliable identification results. The system stores and reports 15 images/sample and uses a neural network simulation algorithm (AIEM-8) to improve identification results.
  • cobas u 601 is a fully automated urine strip analysis system, using next-generation photometer technology with a camera chip to capture high-quality images of each test strip pad, allowing differentiation of intact and lysed red blood cells, delivering reliable results.
• Accurate and Safe Results:
  • Uses Combur-Test® strips with unique mesh fixation technology and iodine mesh, minimizing ascorbic acid interference – a common factor that can cause false negatives for blood and glucose tests.
  • Improved photometer technology helps detect errors on test strip pads and provides reliable results.
• Consolidated Urine Testing Area:
  • The system can simultaneously analyze multiple important urine parameters such as pH, protein, glucose, red blood cells, white blood cells, nitrite, ketones, urobilinogen, bilirubin, specific gravity, and color.
  • Fully automated sample flow significantly reduces manual intervention and increases productivity.
• Optimized Workflow:
  • Reduced manual handling: The system is designed to significantly reduce operator intervention, saving time and resources.
  • Continuous sample loading and unloading: Capable of direct loading and unloading of 75 samples (15 racks/tray, 5 samples/rack) at once, with a separate STAT port for urgent samples, ensuring uninterrupted operation.
  • Efficient reagent management: Uses cobas u pack consumables (400 test strips/pack) and cobas u cuvettes (400 cuvettes/pack) with RFID chips, automatically transferring QC information (QC level, target range, lot number, expiration date) to the analyzer, simplifying QC management.
  • High hands-off time: cobas u 701 provides 39 minutes of hands-off time for the operator.
  • Minimal sample aspiration volume: Contributes to optimized sample utilization.