Scientific documents library

The detection of blast cells in the peripheral blood is considered extremely important, and great responsibility is placed on the investigating laboratory. As well as information on the physiology, this SEED article describes the possible causes of the release of blast cells into the blood, the characteristics by which they can be identified and how further diagnosis is carried out.

With this clinical case report an example of a rare blastic plasmacytoid dendritic neoplasm (BPDCN) as it occurred on the XN-Series analyser is described. The measurements were carried out directly after treatment and three months later. The distribution of WBC in the WDF scattergrams were abnormal and the XN analyser indicated these abnormalities with the flags ‘Blasts?’ and ‘Abn Lympho?’ and the subsequent manual smear review revealed the presence of blasts.

This SEED article is meant to explain the findings focused on cell count and differentiation for pleural, ascitic, cerebrospinal and synovial fluid as well as for CAPD. Traditionally, body fluid counts are performed by manual counting under a microscope using a haemocytometer, but laboratories now have the option of automating their manual processes using automated haematology or urinalysis analysers. This SEED summarises the advantages and disadvantages of haemocytometry and Sysmex analysers and explains briefly the XN-BF mode.

Monocytes are a type of white blood cells that perform an important role in the immune defence of the organism. The count of the monocytes can be challenging due to their characteristics. Here we explain why and some possible solutions for the lab.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common form of indolent lymphoma in the western world, accounting for approximately 25% of malignant lymphomas (Ciabanu et al 2013). Disease progression of FL is often unpredictable with 25% - 30% of FL cases progressing; most commonly to diffuse large B cell lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma and rarely B-lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoma (B-ALL) (Swerdlowetal, 2017).

This clinical case reports the disease progression of a patient hospitalised due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patient’s condition worsens significantly over time, ultimately leading to the development of an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a common but very severe complication in respiratory tract infections (such as COVID-19).

In this clinical case report a patient presented with a dimorphic RBC population after having received multiple RBC concentrates. The two populations, one resulting from the donor cells, can be identified from two distinct peaks in the RBC histogram.

Being diagnosed with haematologic malignancy actually happens either because the patient presents with certain symptoms or – as is becoming increasingly common – there are incidental findings during routine blood screening on modern haematology analysers. This white paper aims to describe how parameters of a complete blood count may reveal significant abnormalities and improve the incidental findings of suspected haematologic samples early on.