Hematology parameters – an overview
Introduction to hematology analysis
A hematology analysis is usually the first test requested by a physician to evaluate a patient’s health status, and automated hematology analyzers are frequently used by clinical laboratories in general health screenings.
Manual microscopy procedure
Automated hematology analyzers constitute quick and effective screening tools to monitor the overall blood status of a patient. However, such instruments do not identify all morphologically abnormal cell forms. Instead, the analyzers indicate cell abnormalities through system messages, so called parameter flags. In such cases, a manual examination of the sample by a microscopic morphological count is recommended.
Hematology testing in blood banking and transfusion applications
A blood transfusion can in many cases be the only therapy available to treat an acute or chronic health condition. To ensure transfusion safety, blood banks and transfusion centers undertake certain measures.
Ensure reliability and cost-efficiency in decentralized diagnostic testing
With today’s customer-centric approach to healthcare, near-patient testing is growing rapidly. In such clinical settings, capillary samples are typically used. To meet this need, Boule Swelab Alfa Plus and Medonic M32 hematology analyzers are equipped with a micro-pipette adapter (MPA) inlet.
3-part versus 5-part hematology systems
A complete blood count (CBC) is typically the first test requested by a physician to evaluate a patient’s general health status. For such screenings, automated hematology analyzes are frequently used. In addition to determine blood levels of platelets (PLT), red blood cells (RBC), and white blood cells (WBC), most analyzer can also differentiate WBCs into 3 (LYM, MID, GRAN) or 5 (LYM, MONO, NEU, EOS, BASO) subpopulations. Although a so called 3-part hematology analyzer provides sufficient information for most clinical settings, trends show an increased interest in 5-part instruments. While 5-part analyzers can offer more detailed information on the white blood cells, 3-part instruments can offer great cost benefits.
