iSTAT life expectancy

I had a same question. This was from Abbott i-STAT specialist.
"The expected lifespan of an analyzer really depends on use.  The more an analyzer is used and abused, the life of it will shorten.  However, I have seen analyzers in use well over 10 years, but it is not recommended as you will start to see issues."

We have i-STAT, which is about 10 yrs old, and it is working fine. but most likely I need to get new rechargeable batteries.

Hi Melisa,

Just curious, what sort of quality error are you seeing on the middleware? 

We have 4 analyzers that we got in 2007!!  We do only use them for creatinines and a very few ACTs, so they don't get much use and only by a few trained nurses. My fear is that they will all quit on the same day.  We are looking at upgrading to newer ones before that happens. ( Hope I didn't just jinx myself). Happy Friday.  Ruthy

We have a fleet of approximately 30 i-STATS and many are used quite heavily. Average age of ours is 15 years with most being over 20 yrs. The analyzers are great machines and are workhorses. 
We are in the process of hopefully replacing them, but you all know how capital budget goes. It's a non-realized wishlist.

Your discussion made me curious about our analyzers.  We have 115 iSTATs.  The median vintage is 2021.  However, we still have 4 analyzers is use since 2009.  They are in Imaging and Heart and Vascular locations.  They're not used every day, and mostly for Creatinine and ACT tests.
We started using iSTAT technology around 1995, but that model of analyzer was replaced long ago.

Thank you all for the info. From the various answers, it looks like they have a lot of life left! The iSTATs are used low to moderate around the various hospitals in the system. The majority of error codes I'm seeing relate to cartridge errors and occasionally the iSTAT itself. It made me wonder if the device age played a part in the overall errors as well. It seems these are indeed work horses and the errors are most likely user related (which I suspected).
Thanks again!!

Melisa - I am curious about what error codes you got specifically?  I had to replace a meter back in September and am in the process of replacing another one due to multiple cartridge errors.  One is used in our CVOR, so I thought since it gets quite a bit of use that it might just be getting to the end of its life, but the other one is one we keep in the Lab and don't use often at all, so it shouldn't be near end of life.  Seeing your post, I am wondering if it was more of a cartridge issue rather than the meter itself.

Jacqueline-There's not one specific error code I was seeing more than another. The devices aren't heavily used so I'm seeing maybe around 20 codes a month for 12 devices at two different hospitals. Most are due to cartridge errors, flow errors, position errors and the occasional one that is specific to analyzer errors. I do the ceramic conditioning cartridge (pin conditioning) every 6 months when I have the devices for CLEW updates and correlations. I was unsure of just how long these things last and maybe age played a part in the codes (?) Crowd sourcing says they last a long time :)

Abbott previously told me 7 years life expectancy if used regularly.  We have some that are from 2006 that are still working.  Abbott did not give any specific errors to watch for, just that the # of errors would increase if a unit is going bad.  Most of ours that need replaced are because end users drop them.

Most of mine are >6 years old, either ours originally, or replacement meters that are often around the same vintage as the one returned.  Haven't really noticed any issues specifically related to age; although recently I had to return one because it failed to keep a current time stamp, which Abbott pointed to an internal battery (not the main battery) that cannot be replaced, so the only option was to replace the entire meter.  Naturally, that would be an age-associated failure.