Evaluation of the Reticulocyte Count Portion of Technicon H*3 Blood Analyzer: Lowering the Test Expense by Reducing the Reticulocyte Reagent
NA V APUN CHARURUKS, M.D.*, NARONG SRISINK*, VEERAYA HUAYHONGTHONG,B.Sc.*, SAKKASEM YANGSUK*, NONGLUK DANGCHEN*, MONRUDEE THAISAMSEN*, SIRIPONG PIROM*, PIYAWAN NOYSRI *
Affiliation : * Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkom University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Abstract
Automated reticulocyte counting has become an essential instrument of the hematology
laboratory. This automatic technique has lead to diminishing labour tasks and to significant im-
provements in accuracy and precision compared with the manual microscopic methods. In any event,
it adds a considerable expense to the laboratory budget. Here, we report the modified method of
applying the new mixture of 1 J..1L of whole blood with 1 mL of reticulocyte reagent, which we eva-
luated for its accuracy and precision, instead of using the mixture of 3 11L of whole blood with 3
mL of reticulocyte reagent recommended by the company. We demonstrated the accepted accurate
and precise results of percentage and absolute number of retculocyte count, low-stained reticu-
locyte count and its corpuscular indices; the mean reticulocyte corpuscular volume (MCVr), mean
reticulocyte corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (CHCMr), and mean reticulocyte hemoglobin
content (CHr). These suggested that, for every red cell assessed, the number, the cell volume, hemo-
globin content and concentration are accurately and precisely measured by the modified method
while the sub-populations of reticulocyte count and distribution width of reticulocyte indices are
variable.
In conclusion, our results provided the information that 1) the modified method can be
used as a routine test and it provides accurate and precise results; 2) with the modified method,
two-thirds of the expense spent for reticulocyte reagent can be saved; 3) it should not be used for
research purposes.
Keywords :
