[Utility of microsemi LC-667CRP in point of care testing system for acute inflammatory disease]

We examined the basic performance of "Microsemi LC-667CRP" (LC-667, HORIBA, Ltd.) which has been newly developed as compact laboratory instrument capable of simultaneous measuring of complete blood count (CBC) including 3-part differentials of white blood cells (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) using whole blood anticoagulated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). We found that CBC and CRP were intra-assay-reproducible (n = 10, CVs < 5.0%). They also showed the good linearity and no definite carry-over. Concerning the WBC differentials, percentage of monocytes (MON%) showed less intra-assay reproducibility compared with those of granulocytes (GRA%) and lymphocytes (LYM%). We also evaluated the correlation of values obtained by LC-667 and routinely used instruments in our institute. Concerning the CBC and WBC differentials, excellent correlations were found between LC-667CRP and XE-2100 (SYSMEX CORPORATION) except MON%. In addition, whole blood CRP as well as plasma and serum CRP measured by LC-667 also showed the good correlations with serum CRP measured by 7600 (Hitachi High Technologies Corporation). From these findings, LC-667 was revealed to produce the clinically reliable data using only 18 microL of sample volume in 4 minutes. Point of care testing (POCT) has been developed as the laboratory system performed at or near the site of patient to reduce the turn around time. Therefore, LC-667 seemed useful in POCT for the patients with acute inflammatory disease especially in pediatrics.