[Evaluation of the QBC-Autoread System in hematological screening in a hospital laboratory].

The QBC Autoread System is based on fully automatic, electro-optical linear measurements of the discrete layers of packed blood cells in a microhematocrite tube. The layering results from differing cell densities during high-speed centrifugation. The determination of hemoglobin, hematocrit, leucocytes, platelets and of the percentual share of granulocytes and lymphocytes/monocytes with the QBC Autoread System was evaluated concerning reliability and precision in comparison with the conventional analytical methods. We used a Coulter Counter System and the manual differentiation of the stained blood smears as reference methods. The evaluation of the first 400 blood samples showed a close correlation for all hematological parameters examined, but no significant deviation relative to the reference methods. Only 83 of totally 1000 (8.3%) examined venous blood samples could not be evaluated completely by the QBC Autoread System. For the analysis of very pathological cell populations, especially of hematological oncological diseases, the QBC System is not qualified. The extreme portability, the quick practicability and the good accordance with the conventional analytical methods make the QBC Autoread System a qualified screening method for practice and emergency laboratories.