Blood cell counting: A comparison of the E.E.L. and coulter machines

Summary

1. The performance of two electronic blood cell counting machines has been extensively tested under routine working conditions in a busy hospital laboratory.

2. Only venous samples, preferably collected in “Sequestrene”, are suitable for machine counting.

3. Accurate predilution of the blood is important and to speed the performance, this should be carried out automatically.

4. Both the E.E.L. and the Coulter machines are equally satisfactory for red cell counting.

5. The Coulter machine is capable of accurate leucocyte counting, but in our experience the E.E.L. machine has not proved satisfactory for this purpose.

6. It is possible to count platelets on the Coulter, but not on the E.E.L. machine. A satisfactory routine method for platelet counting on the Coulter machine has not yet been fully developed.

7. The routine servicing which is necessary to maintain both machines in full working order has been described.

8. The use of machines for routine blood cell counting has eliminated the tedium which is inherent in the visual method, at the same time increasing the speed of performance and the accuracy of the results. They have proved to be of great practical value in a hospital laboratory haematological service.