Reticulocyte count and extended reticulocyte parameters by Mindray BC-6800: Reference intervals and comparison with...

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Clinical Chemistry
• Laboratory Medicine

Background:

• Evaluation of the Mindray BC-6800 analyzer for reticulocyte quantification.
• Assessment of extended reticulocyte parameters and their diagnostic utility.
• Determination of reference intervals in an adult population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the analytic performance of the Mindray BC-6800 analyzer.
• To assess the diagnostic efficiency of reticulocyte parameters.
• To compare results with the Sysmex XE-5000 analyzer.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of imprecision, carryover, and time stability of the BC-6800.
• Inclusion of 184 healthy adults and 368 patients with various hematologic conditions.
• Comparison of reticulocyte and extended parameter measurements with the Sysmex XE-5000.

Main Results:

• Established reference intervals for reticulocytes, immature reticulocyte fraction, mean reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent (RHE), and mean reticulocyte volume.
• Demonstrated low imprecision, negligible carryover (2.3%), and excellent time stability (up to 8 hours).
• Achieved good overall correlation for reticulocyte counting and 91.6% total agreement for RHE diagnostic efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The Mindray BC-6800 analyzer exhibits robust analytic performance for reticulocyte analysis.
• Good correlation exists between BC-6800 and XE-5000 for reticulocyte counts, with minor differences in upper reference limits.
• The BC-6800 shows high diagnostic efficiency for extended reticulocyte parameters, particularly RHE.