Body fluid samples—such as cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid and more—are precious due to the difficulty of the draw and risk of patient discomfort. Urgent diagnostic data must be gleaned from a very limited sample volume, so accuracy and speed of results take on even greater importance. For this reason, laboratories have traditionally resorted to manual body fluid cell counting to ensure the highest quality of insights.

In recent years, some laboratories have adopted analyzer-based body fluid analysis. However, not all clinical laboratories have sufficient body fluid analysis needs to justify the total cost of ownership of a dedicated body fluid analyzer. Those laboratories may instead choose to use their routine hematology analyzer for body fluid cell counts.

Using a routine hematology analyzer for body fluid cell counts can help avoid the expense of a dedicated body fluid analyzer, but the approach comes with some tradeoffs.

For example, switching a hematology analyzer to a body fluid analysis mode may require pausing the laboratory’s in-progress hematology workload in order to stop and switch the analyzer’s settings. This interruption can slow not just the delivery of body fluid analysis results, but also the delivery of other hematology test results. For the patients and clinicians awaiting results, even a small delay can seem enormous.

For laboratories looking to reduce manual work while avoiding the space and cost considerations of maintaining a dedicated body fluids analyzer, there is a better solution: the iQ200 series automated urine microscopy analyzer with iQ Body Fluids Module.

The iQ Body Fluids Module is a software enhancement available on the iQ200 series analyzer. With this module enabled, the iQ200 series analyzer can deliver accurate results for body fluid samples—including clear and colorless cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples with linearity down to zero. The module empowers your laboratory with a fully automated method for the analysis of red blood cell (RBC) count and nucleated cell count in cerebrospinal, synovial and serous fluids.

Workflow efficiency

With the iQ Body Fluids Module enabled, laboratory staff need only prep the analyzer at startup using standard procedures. There’s no need to stop the analyzer and switch modes, which means your workflow can continued uninterrupted and technologists can focus on what matters most, rather than tending to an instrument.

Standardization and accuracy

After automated analysis, RBC and nucleated cell counts in cerebrospinal, serous and synovial fluids are delivered as digital images which allow users to see and report bacteria and cellular abnormalities. Patented DxU Digital Flow Morphology technology isolates particles in body fluids to provide immediate, accurate and reproducible results that can be verified on the screen. Because the process is digital and automated, you can standardize what was once a highly variable, technique-driven approach in order to improve accuracy of body fluid cell counts.

High productivity

Every minute counts in the laboratory. The iQ Body Fluid Module empowers efficient TAT body fluid counts in comparison with manual reviews with hemacytometer. And because body fluids and urine samples can be analyzed in the same run, there is no need to interrupt your urinalysis testing workflow or extend its TAT in order to accommodate body fluid cell counts.