Automated measurement of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate: method validation and comparison.

Background Development of automated analyzers for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) has imposed the need for extensive validation prior to their implementation in routine practice, to ensure comparability with the reference Westergren method. The aim of our study was to perform the analytical validation of two automated ESR analyzers, the Ves-Matic Cube 200 and the TEST1. Methods Validation was performed according to the recent International Council for Standardization in Hematology recommendations and included determination of intrarun and inter-run precision, assessment of sample carryover, hemolysis interference, sensitivity to fibrinogen, method comparison with the gold standard Westergren method and stability test. Results The highest intrarun imprecision was obtained for the low ESR range (33.5% for Ves-Matic Cube; 37.3% for TEST1) while inter-run coefficients of variation on three levels were much better for the TEST1 (0%, 2% and 1.2%) compared to the Ves-Matic Cube 200 on two levels (24.9% and 5.8%). Both Ves-Matic Cube 200 and TEST1 showed no statistically significant difference when compared with Westergren. Bland-Altman analysis yielded overall insignificant mean biases for all comparisons, but a wider dispersion of results and 95% limits of agreement for comparisons including the Ves-Matic Cube 200. Carryover was considered insignificant, while hemolysis had a negative effect on all assessed ESR methods. The highest sensitivity to fibrinogen was observed for the Ves-Matic Cube 200, followed by Westergren and the least sensitive was the TEST1. Conclusions The obtained results proved the analytical validity of the TEST1 and the Ves-Matic Cube 200, and high comparability with the gold standard Westergren method, showing obvious improvements in standardization of ESR methods.

The assessment of high sensitivity cardiac troponin in patients with COVID-19: A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that patients diagnosed with coronarivus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and also with previous cardiovascular diseases have a higher mortality due to worsening heart disease. At the same time, patients without previous cardiovascular disease may also have cardiac complications. The aim of this multicenter study was to assess high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) in patients with COVID-19 and to evaluate the incidence of myocardial injury. METHODS: In this multicenter study we enrolled 543 patients, 57.8% males, median age 63 years (range 18-99) from three selected hospitals: University Hospital Tor Vergata in Rome, Fondazione IRCCS Ca 'Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, in Milan, S Chiara Hospital in Trento. We measured hs-cTnT in all patients to assess myocardial injury and correlations with patient's age, symptoms and disease course. RESULTS: The data showed that, among the 543 patients studied, 257 patients (47.3%) had hs-cTnT values higher than the upper reference limit (URL) of 14 ng/L. Patients with high hs-cTnT had more frequently fever (p < 0.01) and respiratory symptoms (p < 0.01), compared to the group with hs-cTnT values below URL. The results showed also that patients with hs-cTnT above URL had a higher frequency of previous cardiovascular disease (p < 0.01) as well as of hypertension (p < 0.01). Instead, among 231 patients with no previous cardiovascular disease, 81 (31.5%) had hs-cTnT values above the URL. Finally. the majority of the patients with high hs-cTnT were admitted to the intensive care unit (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest the assessment of high sensitivity cardiac troponin in patients with COVID-19 for early diagnosis of cardiac involvement.

Ves-Matic CUBE 200: is modified Westergren method for erythrocyte sedimentation rate a valid alternative to the gold standard?

Ves-Matic CUBE 200 is an automated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) analyser based on the modified Westergren principle of measurement. In this study, we aimed to assess its analytical performance following the key points addressed by the International Council for Standardization in Haematology and the comparability with the gold standard Westergren method. Comparison of the two methods yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.852, no significant bias and a small constant difference between compared results. Intrarun coefficients of variation (CV) ranged from 2.2% to 22.2%, the higher being for lower ESR values, while inter-run CVs were 19.7% for the normal range and 3.0% for the abnormal range. This study proved the analytical validity of the Ves-Matic CUBE 200 and its high comparability with the Westergren method, showing obvious improvements in the technology applied for automated determination of ESR and a valuable step forward in standardisation of ESR methods.

Clinical utility of reticulocyte parameters.

The reticulocyte count reflects the erythropoietic activity of bone marrow and is thus useful in both diagnosing anemias and monitoring bone marrow response to therapy. Automated flow-cytometric analysis has led to a significant advance in reticulocyte counting, by simultaneously providing additional parameters and indices such as the reticulocyte immature reticulocyte fraction (IRF), the reticulocyte volume, and the hemoglobin content and concentration. IRF has been proposed as an early marker of engraftment. Reticulocyte hemoglobin content is useful in assessing the functional iron available for erythropoiesis, and reticulocyte volume is a useful indicator when monitoring the therapeutic response of anemias.