Monthly Archives: November 2011

Introduction
The advances in automated blood cell counter successfully provide the precise data of WBC, RBC, and platelet counts with leukocyte differentials. However, the differential information by blood cell counters is limited for cell morphologic features especially for abnormal and immature cells, and the morphological smear reviews triggered by specific flagging of automated analyzer are necessary. The criteria for manual action is depending on local guidelines, and review rates have been reported to vary from 9.9% – 50% in different laboratories ¹.

At Juntendo University Hospital, Japan (1,020 beds, 4,000 outpatients/day, 1,500 CBCs/day), manual screens of blood smears were performed on 29.2% of CBC determinations. Under the requirements for faster… Read more »