Automated cerebrospinal fluid cytology.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the Abbott CELL-DYN Sapphire cytometer for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell count and differentiation.


METHODS
One hundred three analyses of CSF cells by the CELL-DYN Sapphire were compared with routine cell count and microscopic differentiation and correlation coefficients calculated.


RESULTS
The total cell count of both methods correlated well. The detection of erythrocytes was good (0.898), and a higher content of erythrocytes >100/microL had little effect on total leukocyte count. The correlation between both methods was best with higher leukocyte counts >25/microL (r=0.987), whereas at cell counts <25/microL, the correlation was considerably less precise (r=0.613). For the differentiation of cells, lymphocytes and neutrophils showed moderate correlation. The results for monocytes and eosinophils did not correlate.


CONCLUSIONS
The results for the total cell count in this study are comparable with those achieved with the Bayer Advia 120. While the Abbott CELL-DYN Sapphire yielded slightly better results for erythrocytes and total cell count with a higher erythrocyte content, the Advia 120 achieved slightly better results of lymphocyte and neutrophil count in a previous study.
Heller
Tanja
T
Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
Nagel
Ingelore
I
Ehrlich
Bettina
B
Bähr
Mathias
M
Strik
Herwig
H
D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results