Evaluation and Establishment of Reference Range of Automated Urine Cell Analyzer UF-100

Jung, Chae Limg; Kim, Seung Goo; Moon, Hee Won; Lee, Mi Ae; Chung, Wha Soon

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The automated urine cell analyzer UF-100 (Syxmex co., Japan), flow cytometer-based instrument, has enabled to perform rapid and efficient work. We evaluated the UF-100 by comparing performance in urine sediment testing with counting chamber, standardized method, and traditional manual microscopy widely used in laboratories, and established reference ranges in our hospital.
METHODS
Urine samples were obtained from patients in their 20s to 60s who visited hospital for regular check-up between March and April 2007 at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. We selected randomly a total of 261 samples (male 130, female 131) and evaluated correlations of red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts of UF-100 with counting chamber, and manual microscopy. Moreover, we established reference ranges of UF-100 and counting chamber according to CLSI guideline, using 156 urine samples (male 93, female 63) with normal dipstick (strip) test results.
RESULTS
The RBC correlation coefficients between UF-100 and counting chamber, UF-100 and manual microscopy, counting chamber and manual microscopy were 0.538, 0.873, and 0.619, respectively. The WBC correlation coefficients between UF-100 and counting chamber, UF-100 and manual microscopy, counting chamber and manual microscopy were 0.992, 0.902, and 0.893, respectively and showed good correlations. The results of UF-100 were higher than counting chamber and manual microscopy. The RBC reference ranges of UF-100 nd counting chamber were 0.5-24.9/microliter (male 0.4-12.2/microliter, female 0.9-38.8/microliter) and 0-4/microliter (male 0-4/microliter, female 0-5/microliter), and the WBC reference ranges of those were 0.9-21.8/microliter (male 0.8-12.6/microliter, female 2.0-23.4/microliter) and 0-7/microliter (male 0-7/microliter, female 0-9/microliter).
CONCLUSIONS
The fully automated analyzer UF-100 could be useful to enhance efficiency by labor-saving, turnaround time reduction and improving throughput and to enable standardization. But it is needed for further study including clinical evaluation, because the results and reference ranges between UF-100 and counting chamber or manual microscopy showed considerable differences.