Evaluation of Cell Counting in Body Fluids: Comparison of Two Automated Hematology Analyzers with Manual Microscopy.

Background: Manual microscopic analysis (MMA) of body fluids has been widely replaced by automated systems. The aim of this study was to assess the performances of the Sysmex XN-1000 (XN-1000) and UniCel DxH800 (DxH800) for body fluid analysis and compare their results with MMA and with each other.

Methods: Red blood cell (RBC), WBC and WBC-differential counts of 142 body fluid samples (7 cerebrospinal, 28 pleural, 107 ascitic fluids) were performed using DxH800, XN-1000, and MMA.

Results: The within-run and between-days CVs% were lower than 10% for both systems except MONO of DxH800. Both analyzers demonstrated good linearity and minimal carry-over. The comparison of the XN-1000 and DxH800 with manual counting and each other revealed good correlation (r > 0.90 for both).

Conclusions: Automated systems introduce standardized and accurate performances to analyze biologic fluids. They are also beneficial for reducing turn-around time and laboratory costs.