HAEMATOLOGY
Is manual cell counting in CSF specimens a thing of the past?
Cerebrospinal fluid cell counts performed using haemocytometer chamber methods are prone to high interobserver variability and poor reproducibility. Utilising an automated system minimises errors and simplifies the testing process.
The accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell counts is critical in clinical practice. Bristol Royal Infirmary has implemented the GloCyte Automated Cell Counter for CSF because it is the only reliable automated CSF cell counter solution available for budget- constrained hospitals, explains Alexander Macphie, Senior Biomedical Scientist in Haematology, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
Do you have an example of the impact of inaccurate CSF cell counts? Alexander Macphie: The biggest issue we had was with paediatric patients; there were a lot of complaints because the children on certain medical trials didn’t get their results for a long period of time. The problem we found with the machines we were using was that we were giving inaccurate counts because paediatric patients’ white cells
couldn’t be detected accurately at the lower end.
What challenges did you have with other automated cell counters? AM: The challenge is validation. After we’d lost our original technology we found ourselves having to verify against a non-verified machine, but it was all we had. We weren’t able to properly tie this verification off and it was an ongoing issue. There were no QA schemes we could go to, and the nature of CSF is that it is extremely difficult to get any longevity of samples, and no one else in the region does it.
What led you to the decision to purchase GloCyte? AM: That was an easy one for us. It was our only solution really, other than to have gone and got one of the other machines that could do this count, neither of which was a realistic option due to the extra cost.
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust’s haemotology department is based at Bristol Royal Infirmary.
40
Some haematologic malignancies relapse specifically into the CNS, it prompts a diagnosis and early treatment, which always results in more favorable outcomes for the patient
AUGUST 2024
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM
Nick Bell - Own work CC BY-SA 4.0
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
