Performance evaluation of the new platelet measurement channel on the BC-6800 Plus automated hematology analyzer

Objective To evaluate the performance of new optical platelet measurement channel on the BC-6800 Plus automated blood cell analyzer. Methods The basic PLT count performance of the BC-6800 Plus was evaluated according to the requirements of the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI) Document H26-A2. In addition, low-PLT-value specimens, red blood cell debris specimens, small red blood cell specimens, and giant PLT specimens were detected with the blood cell analyzer and a flow cytometer. Whole-blood specimens in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or sodium citrate anticoagulant tubes from 20 patients with EDTA-dependent PLT aggregation were determined in CDR mode of the analyzer. Results Blank counting and the carryover contamination rate of PLTs using the BC-6800 Plus both met the technical requirements. For abnormal PLT specimens, PLT-O 8x and PLT-I both exhibited high comparability with flow cytometry. The comparability of PLT-O 8x with flow cytometry was better than that of PLT-I. In EDTA-anticoagulated blood specimens from 20 patients with EDTA-dependent PLT aggregation, the results of PLT-O were significantly higher than those for PLT-I using samples from the same tubes (P < .001). However, the PLT counts were similar between these two methods for sodium citrate-anticoagulated blood specimens (P = .263). Conclusion The performance of PLT-O 8x in the BC-6800 Plus met the technical requirements. PLT-O 8x exhibited better reproducibility than did PLT-I for low-PLT-value samples. Reexamination of abnormal PLT specimens using PLT-O 8x yielded more accurate results. PLT-O performed significantly better than PLT-I in the detection of EDTA-dependent PLT-aggregation specimens.