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Everything posted by adantonio
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We have 2 Compacts; this is our second set. They are workhorses, very little downtime and easy maintenance.
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We just completed this study in January. We ran 50 PT/APTT patients, across the normal and therapeutic ranges to include heparin therapy patients. We also ran 20 fibrinogens and D-Dimers-we are a small lab so that is our complete testing menu. I used the CAP guidelines-+/- 15% for PT/APTT and +/- 20% for fibrinogen and D-Dimer.
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We purchased a Shandon Cytospin 4 to replace our old Shandon Cytospin 2 years ago. It is easy to program and use, and makes beautiful slides. It is priced comparably with other cytospins on the market.
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The RBC confirmation is not QC. We perform manual QC for chamber counts (which does not, in fact, validate the accuracy of the chamber count-just because you fill the chamber correctly for the QC and count the chamber accurately does not ensure you will do the same for the patient). An example of RBC confirmation: The manual hemocytometer RBC = 50. The manual hemocytometer WBC = 25. For the RBC to be confirmed, the cytospin slide would show a ratio 2:1 for RBC:WBC. If the RBC cannot be confirmed, the chamber count is repeated.
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Essentially, the cytospin is scanned for the ratio of RBC to WBC and compared to the chamber count to verify the accuracy of the chamber count.
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We only perform a differential if the WBC is greater than 5; we have a canned comment to attach to the report. We do, however, scan 2 stained cytospin slides to confirm the RBC count (CAP requirement) and to look for anything which might be clinically significant (malignant cells, bacteria, yeast).
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The Sapphire does not have a blood sampling valve; the sample probe is the same for both the open and closed modes, so the blood uses the same pathway.
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We are currently evaluating 2 vendors to change our CBC instrumentation. We currently have the Abbott CellDyn Sapphire with a CellDyn 3200 back-up. I do like the Sapphire, but have struggled to automate body fluids. We are looking at Beckman Coulter and Sysmex with the body fluid platform. Does anyone use these analyzers? Let me know what you like/don't like.