COMPLETE ANALYTICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC PERFORMANCES OF THE ABBOTT CELL DYN-3500

Methods. The study reportes the analytical and diagnostic performances of Cell Dyn 3500 (Abbott), an automated haematology analyser that pro vides the electrical impedance and the optical detection of total leuk ocyte and a five population leukocyte differential count. The evaluati on of complete blood count and differential leukocyte count parameters was performed following the guidelines of the international Council f or Standardization in Haematology and those of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards document H20-A. Results. The CD 3500 demonstrated a good linearity, minimal carry-over as well as acceptab le levels of within and between-batch imprecision and stability, An ex cellent correlation between CD 3500 and the routine systems used in ou r laboratory (Technicon H2 and Coulter STKS) was found for the major haematological indites, though agreement was not as good for MCHC. The re was a good correlation between CD 3500 and manual reference differe ntial method for neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils, with the exception of monocytes, Conclusions. Regarding clinical sensi tivity, the CD 3500 showed a high specificity to detect morphological abnormalities, but low sensitivity especially far the identification o f immature granulocytes and nucleated red blood cells; if we overall e valuate any qualitative flags, we found an appreciable increase in sen sitivity.