Automated agglutination analyzer with contour comparison

A method for determining an agglutination parameter with particles in a fluid sample, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a reaction plate having a plurality of reaction vessels;
• introducing an agglutinating mediator to at least a portion of said plurality of reaction vessels, wherein said introduced agglutinating mediator in said reaction vessels spans a dilution range over said at least a portion of said plurality of reaction vessels;
• introducing said particles in the fluid sample to each of said plurality of reaction vessels,
• creating a digital image of said plurality of reaction vessels;
• processing said digital image to generate a processed image, wherein said step of processing comprises defining a plurality of areas of said processed image corresponding to each of said plurality of reaction vessels and each of said areas correspond to a plurality of pixels;
• measuring within each of said defined plurality of areas a pixel intensity for each of said plurality of pixels positioned within said area;
• identifying a boundary contour, if present, for each of said reaction vessels from said measuring step;
• calculating a one or more boundary contour parameters for each of said identified boundary contours;
• comparing each of said calculated one or more boundary contour parameters in each of said reaction vessels with a one or more standard boundary contour parameters from a control reaction vessel having a non-agglutination control or an agglutination control to determine an agglutination condition in each of said plurality of reaction vessels, wherein said agglutination condition is one of:
• agglutination, non-agglutination, non-specific inhibition, or error state;
• and
• determining said agglutination parameter from said agglutination condition that is agglutination or non-agglutination in at least a portion of said plurality of reaction vessels over said dilution range, wherein said agglutination parameter is titer or concentration of said agglutination mediator.