Effects of time, anticoagulant and detection channel on platelet count in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia.

Background: EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia (EDTA-PTCP) is an phenomenon that may lead to expensive, time-consuming, and invasive diagnostic procedures as well as unnecessary patient treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of time, anticoagulant and detection channel on the platelet (PLT) count of EDTA-PTCP samples, and to suggest a better method for correcting spurious low PLT counts.

Methods: In this study, 43 identified EDTA-PTCP samples were collected.