Analytical performance of an automated volumetric flow cytometer for quantitation of T, B and natural killer lymphocytes.

Background: Quantitation of lymphocyte subsets (B cells, T cells, CD4 and CD8 T cells and NK cells) classically relies on quantitation of lymphocytes and immunophenotyping by flow cytometry. AQUIOS CL (Beckman Coulter) is a fully automated system that performs an onboard volumetric cell count, automatically processes the sample (staining, lysing and fixation) and analyzes the results. We compared AQUIOS CL to a dual-platform analysis and evaluated analytical performance.

Evaluation of four hemoglobin separation analyzers for hemoglobinopathy diagnosis.

Background: Four automated hemoglobin separation devices are compared in their ability to detect hemoglobinopathies, both in HbA1c and in hemoglobinopathy mode.

Methods: Quality control material and 58 samples, including one heterozygous α-thalassemia sample, six heterozygote β-thalassemia samples and 32 samples with a known hemoglobin variant, were used to assess imprecision of HbF and HbA2 measurements, correlation with the gold standard and sensitivity for detecting β-thalassemia and Hb variants on D-100 (Bio-Rad Laboratories), HA 8180T (Menarini), HLC-723G8 (Tosoh Bioscience) and Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing (Sebia).

Results: Imprecision was <10% for both HbF and HbA2 in all modes of all analyzers.