US 10,481,071 B2 · White blood cell analysis system and method

Abstract

Systems and methods for analyzing blood samples, and more specifically for performing a white blood cell (WBC) differential analysis. The systems and methods screen WBCs by means of fluorescence staining and a fluorescence triggering strategy. As such, interference from unlyzed red blood cells (RBCs) and fragments of lysed RBCs is substantially eliminated. The systems and methods also enable development of relatively milder WBC reagent(s), suitable for assays of samples containing fragile WBCs. In one embodiment, the systems and methods include: (a) staining a blood sample with an exclusive cell membrane permeable fluorescent dye, which corresponds in emission spectrum to an excitation source of a hematology instrument; (b) using a fluorescence trigger to screen the blood sample for WBCs; and (c) using measurements of (1) axial light loss, (2) intermediate angle scatter, (3) 90° polarized side scatter, (4) 90° depolarized side scatter, and (5) fluorescence emission to perform a differentiation analysis.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A hematology analyzer for conducting a white blood cell (WBC) differential analysis on a blood sample that contains a plurality of WBCs, the analyzer comprising:

an excitation source positioned to excite particles within the blood sample;
a detector unit comprising a fluorescence detector positioned to measure fluorescence emitted from the excited blood sample;
and
a processor;
a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium comprising instructions that cause the processor to:
excite the blood sample with the excitation source in a flow cell;
collect a plurality of fluorescence emission signals from the excited sample;
and
prior to performing a WBC differential analysis, exclude nuclei-free events and retain nuclei-containing events using only a fluorescence trigger that is limited to fluorescence emission signals and is set to a fluorescence magnitude that is greater than fluorescence emission signals from RBCs, including RBC fragments, and is less than fluorescence emission signals from WBCs;
and
perform the WBC differential analysis on the nuclei-containing events.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

White blood cell analysis system and method

Life of this patent

White blood cell analysis system and method

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18