ABSTRACT
During the one-year period from April 1992 through March 1993, we measured 25, 498 blood samples by the use of a sequential multichannel autoanalyzer, which our hospital installed in August 1991. Of the total, 4, 707 samples were thoroughly examined under the microscope. They included those from the patients for which physicians indicated laboratory testing, those samples whose white cell counts were less than 3, 000/μ<I>l</I>or more than 10, 000/μ<I>l</I>, the cases in which the amount of hemoglobin was less than 10.0g/d<I>l</I>, and the samples which defied blood typing. The result was that three cases of myelodysplastic syndrome were detected, although the autoanalyzer failed to find any abnormalities in these three cases.<BR>Laboratory technicians in hospital are so busy that they hardly have time enough for thoroughgoing examination of hemogram. Nevertheless, the recent experience has brought home to us the importance of a microscopic scrutiny, into hemogram and its application to diagnosis.