Publication:

Study of automated hematology analyzer’s scatterplot patterns in white blood cell disorders

Background Automated hematology analyzers produce scattergrams that can be used as screening tool for various hematological conditions and efficiently shorten turnaround times. Aim was to study scattergram patterns of various while blood cell disorders and assess their efficacy compared to a peripheral blood smear for diagnosis of various disorders.

Methods Scattergram findings generated by UniCel® DxH 800 automated hematology analyzer, a 5-part differential analyzer. The graphic displays have been compiled over a period of 3 months from blood samples received for CBC. Samples that the counter flagged as abnormal for white blood cell were chosen. Based on the scatterplots, a preliminary diagnosis was formed. It was compared with the peripheral blood smear (PBS) findings which were taken as the gold standard.

Results The scatterplots showed unique patterns for various disorders on the basis of location, shape, size, density of the cells and their clustering. The scattergram analyser showed 90% sensitivity and 88% specificity for diagnosing hematological disorders. A 97-100% accuracy rate was reported showing excellent correlation between PBS result and WBC parameter result in cell counter analyzers.

Conclusions Not all cases of haematological malignancy exhibit cytopenias or cytosis at initial presentation. Therefore, these scatter plots offer helpful information that prompts a hematopathologist to suspiciously screen the peripheral smear in cases with normal counts. Scattergram analysis suspects a diagnosis earlier than peripheral smear examination. Given their strong correlation with a variety of WBC disorders and confirmed by PBS, WBC scatterplots can be used as a screening tool.