Cell counting of body fluids: comparison between three automated haematology analysers and the manual microscope method

SummaryIntroduction Haematological analysis of body fluids (BF) specimens can provide clinicians with valuable diagnostic information because it can indicate one of several serious medical conditions. Although up to now the microscopic counting and the differentiation of WBC in a BF smear have been used as a reference. The introduction of semiautomated and automated methods of analysis has reduced interoperator variability and improved turnaround time and precision. The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy and the correlation between the three methods and with the reference method. Methods We examined 110 body fluid samples. Total counting of each sample has been conducted with all systems: Pentra DX120, ADVIA 2120 and XE-2100 and the manual method. Results We found statistically significant correlation between the data obtained in the ascitic and pleuric liquid but not in the cerebrospinal fluid. Conclusion The introduction of automated method for BF analysis is more and more useful in the routine job of a laboratory analysis. It is therefore very important to evaluate the performance of the different automated haematology technologies, because there is a lack of literature in this field. The comparison between the Pentra DX 120, the other technologies and the manual counting showed instrumental overlapping capabilities.