Evaluation of two methods for counting residual leukocytes in leukoreduced packed red cells: Flow cytometry and fully automated cell counter.

Background And Objectives: Objective of the study is to explore the possibility of utilization of seven part fully automated hematology analyzer for enumeration of residual leukocytes (residual white blood cells [rWBCs]) in leukoreduced packed red cells (LR-PRCs) prepared from whole blood at a blood center as an alternate to the gold standard method, flow cytometry. In this study, we evaluate the performance characteristic of hematology analyzer against flow cytometry for the estimation of rWBCs in 39 LR-PRC units.

Materials And Methods: PRCs prepared from whole blood donations by 39 donors were leukoreduced and their volumes were noted.