Rapid testing of red blood cell parameters in primary care patients using HemoScreen™ point of care instrument

BACKGROUND: Patients with anemia are frequently encountered in primary care. Once anemia is detected, it is essential to define the type and identify the underlying cause prior to initiation of treatment. In most cases, the cause can be determined using information from the patient history, physical exam, and complete blood counts (CBC). Point of care testing of blood cell counts would speed up the work up of anemia patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if the HemoScreen™ instrument (PixCell Medical, Yokneam Ilit, Israel) could be used for primary care samples. It is a POCT instrument that utilizes single sample cuvettes and image analysis of full blood count including RBC, Hemoglobin, MCV, MCH, platelets, WBC, and WBC 5-part differential. METHODS: We compared the HemoScreen™ and the Sysmex XN instrument results of 100 primary care patient samples focusing on the total white blood cells, red blood cell parameters RBC, Hemoglobin, MCH, MCV and platelets. RESULTS: Deming correlations between the HemoScreen™ and the Sysmex XN instruments for the CBC were WBC(HemoScreen™) = 1.016* WBC(Sysmex) + 0.34; r = 0.981, RBC(HemoScreen™) = 0.988* RBC(Sysmex) + 0.015; r = 0.974, Hemoglobin(HemoScreen™) = 1.081* Hemoglobin(Sysmex) − 11.25; r = 0.964, MCH(HemoScreen™) = 0.978* MCH(Sysmex) + 0.78; r = 0.939, MCV(HemoScreen™) = 0.963* MCV(Sysmex) + 8.68; r = 0.946, Platelets(HemoScreen™) = 0.964* Platelets(Sysmex) + 25.7; r = 0.953. CONCLUSION: The HemoScreen™ instrument could provide rapid and accurate test results for evaluation of the red blood cell parameters in primary care. This new technology is interesting as it allows the analysis red blood cell parameters also at small primary care centers.