Carryover in an automated chemistry analyzer refers to what phenomenon, and which approach best reduces it?

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Carryover is when some of the analyte from the previous sample remains in the measurement path and contaminates the next measurement. The best way to reduce this is to implement thorough washing between samples—robust rinse steps with appropriate buffer, sufficient rinse volume, and often a blank or zero sample to flush out residual material. In practice, instrument methods include wash/destain cycles, and using disposable tips or dedicated wash solutions helps remove leftover analyte from the pathway. While arranging sample order can help somewhat, the primary control is effective cleaning between runs. Other issues like random drift, barcode misreads, or temperature fluctuations can alter results in different ways and don’t specifically address carryover.