CHARACTERISTICS OF PRE-ANALYTICAL STAGE IN IMMUNOPHENOTYPING OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD CELLS

Abstract

Abstract. Application of flow cytometry (FC) techniques has considerably expanded the opportunities for evaluation of immune cells, aiming for better diagnostics of immunodeficiency disorders, autoimmune and lymphoproliferative diseases, etc.A procedure of laboratory testing is subdivided into several stages, i.e., pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical. At present, some strict criteria are developed for inclusion of various cell parameters into a diagnostic set, along with operational algorithms, in order to optimize the FC procedures. However, the percentage of errors in FC assays still remains high. More than a half of the errors originate from pre-analytical stage.The recommendations listed in this article should definitely influence quality of laboratory investigations and improve diagnostics of immune functional disorders, thus providing adequacy of therapeutic prescriptions. (Med. Immunol., 2011, vol. 13, N 6, pp 639-646)

Keywords

• flow cytometry
• immunophenotyping
• pre-analytical stage