Reliability of automated synovial fluid cell counting with Mindray BC-6800 body fluid mode

Int J Lab Hematol. 2017 Jun;39(3):337-346. doi: 10.1111/ijlh.12632. Epub 2017 Mar 6.

Abstract

Introduction: The enumeration and differentiation of nuclear elements in synovial fluid is a cornerstone for diagnosis and follow-up of many orthopedic and rheumatologic diseases. In this study, we evaluated the analytical performance of Mindray BC-6800 BF mode (BC-6800-BF) for synovial fluid analysis.

Methods: Overall, 78 synovial fluids were collected and analyzed with both BC-6800-BF and light microscopy. The study also entailed the assessment of limit of blank (LoB), limit of detection (LoD), limit of quantification (LoQ), carryover and linearity.

Results: The LoB for the parameters total cells and white blood cells was 6 × 106 cells/L, and the LoD and LoQ were instead 15 and 16 × 106 cells/L, respectively. Linearity was excellent and carryover was negligible. The agreement between BC-6800-BF and light microscopy was satisfactory for all samples pretreated with hyaluronidase, displaying a bias between -5.9% and 8.2%.

Conclusions: The use of BC-6800-BF for synovial fluid analysis enables rapid and accurate assessment, especially for total cell and polymorphonuclear counts. The use of BC-6800-BF may therefore allow the replacement of optical analysis, especially in samples pretreated with hyaluronidase, thus allowing its routine use for the screening of synovial specimens.

Keywords: BC-6800; Mindray; Synovial fluid; body fluid; light microscopy.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry / instrumentation*
  • Flow Cytometry / methods*
  • Humans
  • Hyaluronoglucosaminidase / chemistry
  • Leukocytes / metabolism
  • Leukocytes / pathology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Rheumatic Diseases / metabolism*
  • Rheumatic Diseases / pathology
  • Synovial Fluid / metabolism*

Substances

  • Hyaluronoglucosaminidase