Aim: The Cellavision™ DM9600 was trialled at PathWest Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) in March 2019 to determine the benefit to the organisation in review of blood films referred to reference sites from regional laboratories. The aim was to gather information in a number of areas including the stain quality across the organisation and the feasibility of utilising a digital solution to eliminate the need to transport physical slides back to reference sites, resulting in improved turn-around for patient results.
Method: All 27 sites submitted 2 x stained blood films that had been made at FSH and sent unstained to each site. One film was fixed in methanol and one unfixed prior to staining.
Each site outside FSH, QEII and RPH use a Siemens Hematek™ flat-bed staining machine while the three large sites have a Sysmex SP-10™ staining machine as part of a track.
All submitted blood films were run on the Cellavision™ DM9600 SmearChecker program to determine the quality of the stain intensity and stain colour. The Cellavision™ DM9600 requires all blood films to meet a minimum smear and stain quality to be acceptable for digital analysis.
Result: Stained blood films returned from all 27 sites checked on the Cellavision™ DM9600 SmearChecker program show acceptable stain colour and stain intensity for digital analysis. Statistical analysis of Cellavision™ DM9600 SmearChecker results from blood films from all sites shows that the variation in smear colour and intensity had no statistical effect on the white cell differential count.
Conclusion: Stained blood films returned from all 27 PathWest sites were acceptable for analysis on the Cellavision™ DM9600. Current Haematology staining methods used across the organisation are of adequate standard to support the introduction of a Cellavision™ DM9600 without the need for changes in methodology.