Validation of the Coulter AcT Diff hematology analyzer for analysis of blood of common domestic animals.

The research paper aims to test the reliability of the Coulter AcT Diff hematology analyzer (CAD) in analyzing the blood of common domestic animals and comparing its results with the established Bayer Technicon H1 system.

Sample Collection and Devices

• The study was conducted using blood samples from 391 different animals, representing four distinct species – dogs, cats, horses, and cattle.
• These samples were collected using an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as an anticoagulant, ensuring a clean and non-clotted blood sample for analysis.
• The two devices in question, the CAD and the H1, were calibrated using human blood products to standardize their performance.

Assessment Method

• The comparison of the accuracy of the two instruments was made through hemogram analysis – a complete blood count that measures the number, type, percentage, concentration, and quality of different blood cells within a given volume of blood.
• The key values examined here were mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in canine samples, platelet counts for feline and equine samples, feline and bovine white blood cell (WBC) counts, and bovine hemoglobin.

Performance Evaluation

• The performance of the two machines were assessed based on concordance correlation, a measure of the agreement between two variables.
• Most values demonstrated excellent agreement, implying that the CAD was capable of achieving similar results to the H1 when analyzing animal blood samples.

Limitations

• Some exceptions where agreement was less impressive include the assessment of MCV in canine samples, where the concordance correlation was .710, which indicates a moderate level of agreement.
• Feline and equine platelet counts had particularly low concordance (.258 and .740 respectively), suggesting a level of disagreement between the two machines in term of these particular measurements.
• While the feline and bovine WBC counts (.863 and .857, respectively) and bovine hemoglobin (.876) showed higher concordance, indicating greater agreement, these were still less than perfect.