Evaluation of Nucleated Red Blood Cells in Thalassemia by the Coulter LH 750 Hematology Analyzer

Abstract

Abstract :

The complete blood count and white blood cells (WBC) differential count provide important data in hematological diagnosis and monitoring of therapy. Most of the laboratories use automated analyzers to evaluate these data. The Coulter LH 750 is a new hematology analyzer which incorporates the features of nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) and reticulocyte including the immature reticulocyte fraction (IRF) parameters. In this study, we evaluated the NRBC parameter from thalassemic blood samples by using Coulter LH 750 and comparing the results with microscopic examination. The whole blood of 160 b-thalassemia/HbE patients were obtained from leftover samples, which submitted to routine examination. The findings of automated NRBC% values of <49 /100WBC (n=44) have a good correlation with microscopic method. However, automated NRBC% values of > 50 /100WBC (n=35) have a poor correlation. In conclusion, the Coulter LH 750 could decrease workload on blood smear examination in normal differential WBC count without flags and need no reagent for NRBC enumeration. However, the review of blood smear is still recommended in case of the automated abnormal flags and NRBC for accuracy.