The alignment of hematologic analyzers as a mandatory requirment to ensure analytical quality in blood cell couting

The examination of peripheral blood is a fundamental screening tool to evaluate hematologic conditions and diseases. Automated blood cell counters are becoming increasingly performing and can measure multiple parameters which are used for clinical decision making. Very often blood cell counting, as many other analytical tests, is performed on multiple instruments. Therefore, it is essential that instruments work in a consistent manner to provide comparable results, according to specific standards defined by ISO15189. The aim of this study is to verify the alignment of hematologic analyzers as a necessary requirment to provide analytical quality and reliable results; to achieve this goal the alignment of three hematology analyzers (Sismex XN-Series) was evaluated for red series parameters (RBC, Hb, MCV, RET), following a protocol by SIBiocand using fresh whole-blood human samples on a large range of concentration. Maximum bias was derived from biological variation data.