PERFORMANCE OF THE SE-9000 AUTOMATED HEMATOLOGY ANALYZER IN A LABORATORY SERVING A HEMATOLOGICAL ONCOLOGY UNIT

The performance of the SE-9000 automated haematology analyser in a lab oratory receiving a high number of abnormal specimens from haematologi cal oncology patients was assessed according to formal protocols for t he evaluation of blood cell counters. Linearity over a useful working range, precision in clinically important ranges and negligible carry-o ver were demonstrated in this group of patient samples confirming the results of previous investigators, The comparability of instrument der ived differential leucocyte counts from both normal and distributional ly abnormal samples with those obtained by visual microscopy using the NCCLS H-20 A protocol was very good. The sensitivity of flags for the detection of immature granulocytes and myeloid blast cells was high a nd this can be attributed to the incorporation of a new measuring chan nel (Immature Myeloid Information or IMI channel). The number of unrec ognized abnormalities was low and when compared with the poor sensitiv ity of the routine 100-cell visual differential leucocyte count, the a nalyser was judged suitable for monitoring patients with haematologica l malignancies. The performance of flags such as 'left shift' and 'aty pical lymphocytes' can be improved by taking into consideration distri butional abnormalities such as neutrophilia and lymphocytosis. The tri gger level for these flags should be adapted to the clinical need part icularly in cases of neutropenia following chemotherapy, and in lympho proliferative disorders and infection.