Clinical Application and Evaluation of Sysmex XE-5000 Analyser for Detecting Nucleated Red Blood Cells in Peripheral Blood

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the performance of Sysmex XE-5000 analyser for detecting nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) in peripheral blood and investigate the clinical application of this analyser. METHODS: The absolute NRBC counts (NRBC#) and percentage (NRBC%) of 137 blood specimens (NRBC-positive according to the DIFF channel of the analyser) were determined in the NRBC channel of the analyser. The intra-assay imprecision, carryover rate, and linear range of the analyser were evaluated. The NRBC% of the blood sample was detected with a microscope, and the difference between two methods was analysed. RESULTS: The intra-assay imprecision of the analyser for detecting NRBC# in specimens with high, moderate, and low Q-flag values were 2.10%, 3.26%, and 11.62%, respectively, and the imprecision for detecting NRBC% were 3.79%, 5.80%, and 13.33%, respectively. The carryover rates of the analyser for detecting NRBC# and NRBC% were 0.51% and 0.26%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sysmex XE-5000 analyser had good linearity in NRBC# (i.e., 0/L to 18 x 10(9)/L). The NRBC%s of the two methods did not significantly differ (p = 0.716). The analyser can completely replace the traditional microscope for clinically classifying and counting NRBCs.