Total hematological analysis system as a screening test for hematological malignancy

: Measurement of complete blood cell count and white blood cell differentiation is an essential laboratory test and the most important screening test for hematological malignancy. Recently, several automated blood cell analyzers have been developed to improve accuracy and precision. When flag messages generated in the presence of morphological abnormalities of the samples are displayed, manual revision is necessary. In our laboratory, the manual revision rate has been 35-40%. Therefore blood cell analyzers are useful in screening for abnormalities as well as greatly reducing expensive and time-consuming manual differential procedures. In addition, automated blood cell analyzers can provide several types of useful information including the leukocyte distribution scattergram. However, most such information is not utilized in the clinical field. In the future, a total hematological analysis system will be constructed so that all information provided by automated blood cell analyzer and by manual methods are available.