The ADVIA 2120 hematology system: flow cytometry-based analysis of blood and body fluids in the routine hematology laboratory.

The ADVIA 2120 Hematology System was recently released by Bayer HealthCare, Diagnostics Division, as a bench-top analyzer designed for medium- to large-volume laboratories. This flow cytometry-based system uses light scatter, differential white blood cell (WBC) lysis, and myeloperoxidase and oxazine 750 staining to provide a complete blood cell count, a WBC differential, and a reticulocyte count. A cyanide-free method is used to measure hemoglobin colorimetrically.

Automated flow cytometric analysis of blood cells in cerebrospinal fluid: analytic performance.

We compared the performance of an automated method for obtaining RBC and WBC counts and WBC differential counts in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples with the reference manual method. Results from 325 samples from 10 worldwide clinical sites were used to demonstrate the accuracy, precision, and linearity of the method. Accuracy statistics for absolute cell counts showed a high correlation between methods, with correlation coefficients for all reportable absolute counts greater than 0.

Automated quantitation of hemoglobin-based blood substitutes in whole blood samples.

It is necessary to develop methods for accurate monitoring of cell-free hemoglobin in circulation. Routine monitoring of circulating cell-free hemoglobin will be useful for evaluating the efficacy of blood substitute administration andfor determining the clearance rates of the blood substitute from circulation. In addition, discriminating between cell-free hemoglobin and cell-associated hemoglobin will enable accurate determination of RBC indices, mean cell hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, in individuals receiving hemoglobin-based blood substitutes.

An interlaboratory study of a candidate reference method for platelet counting.

A multinational interlaboratory task force explored the important variables of platelet reference counting and developed a candidate flow cytometric reference method based on the RBC/platelet ratio. A multicenter comparison was performed to determine whether the method met the necessary criteria and was precise enough to be recommended as a new reference method. Each laboratory analyzed serial dilutions of normal specimens, stabilized material, and at least 60 patient specimens with a range of platelet counts from 1 to 400 x 10(3)/microL (1-400 x 10(9)/L).