The Importance of EOS parameter on veterinary hematology analyzers

The white blood cells (WBC) are usually divided into their five subgroups: neutrophils (NEU), lymphocytes  (LYM), monocytes (MONO), eosinophils (EOS) and basophils (BASO). The EOS are generally identified through morphology and toxic proteins though it differs between various animal species. Today automated hematology systems help veterinarians with quick blood analysis on their patients. However, many times they are optimized for general analysis of animal cells and not as specific for different species variations. The EOS morphology differs more than the NEU, MONO and LYM between the most common tested animals (dog, cat, horse, cattle, etc.).

EOS have become more popular to analyze apart from NEU, MONO and LYM as they are more clinically acknowledged today for their roles in the immune system. Therefore, indications of abnormal EOS can help screen for related diseases and other clinical aspects.

Exigo H400 was designed to be a flexible system, allowing for multiple animal species to be sampled efficiently and by simple means. This is done by having 12 pre-installed profiles on the analyzer but with the possibility to add more profiles depending on the clinic or hospital needs. Each of the profiles are optimized with the software and hardware (not only normal ranges). The low sample volume of 20 µl also allows for smaller and/or dehydrated animals to be sampled.

Exigo H400 also has guiding pathology messages with hematological guidelines with clear recommended actions for pathological samples, as well as useful system information messages. To ensure a high quality EOS results the Exigo has a reagent-based EOS method which means that there is an added incubation of cells with the EOS-specific lyse and the EOS are counted in a separate measuring chamber and give a separate histogram to interpret along with the result.

To read more about clinical diagnosis related to abnormal EOS values including a case study, see Aplication note: Importance of eosinophil parameter on veterinary hematology analyzers.