A decision-support system for flow cytometry immunophenotyping.
We developed a decision-support system, the flow cytometry workstation (FCW), that provides variable panel definitions, age-adjusted reference ranges, and graphic display of immunologic trends. Automated quality assurance functions include validation of flow cytometry data using user-defined monoclonal antibody sums and delta check computations. We evaluated the FCW to determine whether it would reduce CD4+ technical and clerical errors and to discover patterns or trends within flow cytometric data for research purposes. The FCW reduced the number of technical and clerical errors in its first 2 years of use (P = .003). User-defined quality assurance summation checks such as CD2+ + CD20+ = 95% +/- 5% were applied to a 10-year data set as part of a retrospective analysis. The FCW discovered a relationship between specimen processing and the number of results appearing out of range: 58.11% of reported samples appeared out of range in 1993 compared with 2% in 1996 (P1 < .001). The FCW is a foundation for quality improvement and outcomes-based research for clinical flow cytometry and serves as a platform for state-of-the-art laboratory management.
Asare
Adam L
AL
Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA.
Ellis
Jason S
JS
Caldwell
Charles W
CW
D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count / Q000379:methods; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013048:Specimen Handling