Method and apparatus for detecting the presence of intraerythrocytic parasites
AssigneeAbbott Point of Care Inc.
InventorsRobert A. Levine, Michael B. Jorgensen
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for determining the presence of an intraerythrocytic organism within a sample of liquid whole blood is provided. The method includes the steps of a) creating an image of the sample quiescently residing within a sample chamber; b) evaluating the image for the presence of at least one red blood cell within the image containing at least one first region of decreased hemoglobin content and/or hemoglobin concentration within the red blood cell, which red blood cell has an otherwise homogenous distribution of hemoglobin; and c) determining the presence of an intraerythrocytic organism within the sample using the evaluation of the image.
Claims14
A method of determining the presence of an intraerythrocytic organism within a sample of liquid whole blood, comprising the steps of:
- providing an apparatus that includes at least one light source, at least one light detector, and a programmable analyzer;
- creating an image of the sample quiescently residing within a sample chamber using the light source and light detector, which imaging includes trans-illuminating the sample with light from the light source at one or more wavelengths absorbed by hemoglobin;
- using the analyzer to evaluate the image for the presence of at least one red blood cell within the image containing at least one first region of decreased hemoglobin content and/or hemoglobin concentration within the red blood cell, which red blood cell has an otherwise homogenous distribution of hemoglobin;
- and
- using the analyzer to determine the presence of an intraerythrocytic organism within the sample based on the image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.