Valores de referencia de la serie eritroide con tecnología del siglo XXI en embarazadas: Prevalencia de anemia / Reference values for the erythroid series with twenty-first century technology in pregnant women: Prevalence of anemia

La disponibilidad, en los hospitales, de contadores hematológicos con nueva tecnología hace necesario actualizar los valores de referencia para establecer el límite entre lo normal y lo patológico. Con este objetivo, se estableció cuáles son dichos valores en una población de mujeres embarazadas. Asimismo, se determinó el porcentaje de disminución de hemoglobina durante el embarazo por efecto de la dilución fisiológica, que fue del 2,2% del primero al segundo trimestre y del 1,5% del segundo al tercero, La prevalencia de anemia microcítica fue del 28% y de anemia macrocítica del 1,6%.

The availability in hospitals of blood cell counters using state-of-the-art technology has made it necessary to update the corresponding reference values. These values allow us to establish the boundary between normal and pathological. With this objective in mind, these intervals were established among pregnant women. Furthermore, the percentage of haemoglobin level decrease during pregnancy due to the effect of physiological dilution has been established as being of 2.2% between the first and the second trimester and 1.5% between the second and the third. The prevalence of microcytic anaemia was 28% and of macrocytic anaemia 1.6%.

Performance Evaluation of the LC-175CRPTM Analyzer for Determination of Complete Blood Cell Count and Quantitative C-Reactive Protein / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the analytical performance of LC-175CRP TM (Horiba Ltd., Kyoto, Japan), an automated blood cell counter and C-reactive protein (CRP) measuring instrument, and its clinical usefulness. METHODS: LC-175CRP was evaluated for linearity, precision, and comparison using patient specimens and quality control material. Usefulness of simultaneous measurement of WBC count and CRP was analyzed using results from 114 patients with infectious or inflammatory diseases. RESULTS: LC-175CRP showed a good linearity (R(2) > or =0.98, P or = 0.94, P<0.001) except monocyte proportion (r=0.35, P=0.02). Among the 55 patients who showed abnormal results of either WBC or CRP, 48 patients (87.3%) showed CRP elevation alone. CONCLUSIONS: LC-175CRP is a small instrument and easy to operate, offers simultaneous, rapid measurement of blood cell count and CRP, and shows an excellent performance. It can be very useful at the emergency room or physician's office for patients suspected to have acute infections or inflammations.

A Case of Pseudoleukopenia due to Cold-Induced Leukocyte Agglutination / 대한임상병리학회지

Pseudothrombocytopenia due to EDTA-induced platelet clumping is occasionally observed in clinical laboratory, but pseudoleukopenia due to in vitro leukocyte agglutination is very rare and there has been no report on this in Korea. The author has experienced a case of pseudoleukopenia in a 78-year-old woman who had been hospitalized with relapsed cerebrovascular accident. EDTA-anticoagulated blood stored for 3 hours in room temperature showed leukopenia by automated blood cell counter (Sysmex SE-9000, Toa Medical Electronics Co., Japan). Leukocyte agglutinates were observed on the peripheral blood smear, which were mostly composed of neutrophils. With prolonged exposure to room temperature, the size of agglutinates increased, and total leukocyte count and neutrophil percentage decreased further. The agglutination reversely disappeared after 37degrees C incubation.