Journal List > Korean J Lab Med > v.27(6) > 1011428

Ryu and Suh: New Leukocyte Counting Method of Cerebrospinal Fluid: Using Transparent Ruler Tape

Abstract

Background

To enumerate leukocyte count in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is important for diagnosing bacterial meningitis. Using automated hematology analyzer for enumeration of leukocyte in CSF is below the sensitivity, so microscopic hemocytometric method is standard method. But this requires sufficient practical experience and has limitation of accuracy and stability. So we developed new manual method and evaluated it.

Methods

We designed new method using transparent ruler tape. We performed correlation, accuracy and precision test by counting leukocyte in diluted EDTA blood with three methods: new method, Neubauer and Nageotte hemocytometry. Twenty two CSF were used for stability test, which determines leukocyte count according to time (within one hour and after 2, 4 and 12 hr), by new method and Neubauer hemocytometry at room temperature.

Results

There was no clinical significant difference between three methods in correlation test, whereas Neubauer and Nageotte hemocytometry showed a bias to underestimation relative to the results obtained with new method in case with low leukocyte count. The new method showed the lowest CV and most accurate result. In stability test, leukocyte counts decreased being 44.4%, 72.1% of initial values after 2 hr, 14.8%, 31.1%, after 4 hr and 4.2%, 8.7%, after 12 hr, by Nageotte hemocytometry and new method, respectively.

Conclusions

The new method we devised is simple, easy and applicable to use in a laboratory and offers advantages of improved precision and stability. It may be sufficient for replacing standard methods for leukocyte counting in CSF.

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Fig. 1.
Slide with transparent ruler tape for cell count (A), visual fields of microscope ×40 (B), ×100 (C), ×200 (D), ×400 (E).
kjlm-27-394f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Schematic figure of new counting method. The arrow indicates direction in microscopic examination.
kjlm-27-394f2.tif
Fig. 3.
Microscopic finding of CSF slide with transparent ruler tape (×100).
kjlm-27-394f3.tif
Fig. 4.
Linearity of leukocyte counting with three method; Neubauer hemacytometer (A), Nageotte chamber (B), new counting method (C) using diluents of EDTA blood samples. Each point represent an individual observation (N=10).
kjlm-27-394f4.tif
Fig. 5.
Leukocyte count (/μL) change with Nageotte chamber (A) and new counting method (B) of each samples (6 cases of initial WBC count >50/μL) according to time elapse.
kjlm-27-394f5.tif
Table 1.
Comparison of methods for white blood cell enumeration applied on Neubauer hemocytometer, Nageotte chamber counting and New method by using a different amounts of diluents of EDTA blood
Expected Neubauer hemocytometer Nageotte chamber New method
Mean±SD CV Accuracy Mean±SD CV Accuracy Mean±SD CV Accuracy
407 395.2±22.2 5.6 100 390.0±18.7 4.8 100 388.2±17.7 4.6 100
203 188.0±14.6 7.8 100 185.8±12.1 6.5 100 192.8±9.8 5.1 100
102 84.5±7.8 9.2 90 89.8±8.9 9.9 90 90.3±6.5 7.2 100
51 42.0±4.5 10.7 70 45.0±4.6 10.2 80 48.5±4.0 8.3 100
25 23.1±4.0 17.4 70 22.0±3.7 16.7 60 25.4±2.9 11.3 90

Results are shown as mean±SD (N=10). Accuracy is expressed as percentage of observed value that fall within 20% of the expected value.

Table 2.
Comparison of methods for white blood cell enumeration by Nageotte chamber and New method during storage at room temperature
Time Nageotte chamber (N=22) New method (N=22)
Mean±SD RR (%) P value Mean±SD RR (%) P value
Within 1 hr 61.5±103.9 100   62.0±100.3 100  
After 2 hr 27.3±44.0 44.4 0.014 44.7±68.5 72.1 0.018
After 4 hr 9.1±12.2 14.8 0.011 19.3±26.5 31.1 0.013
After 12 hr 2.6±3.6 4.2 0.006 5.4±7.3 8.7 0.008

Abbreviation: RR, relative ratio=(WBC count at that time/WBC count within one hour)×100.

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