Spurious Extreme Reticulocytosis with an Automated Reticulocyte Analyzer

Abstract

To the Editor: Automated reticulocyte analysis is based on flow-cytometric techniques and the Sysmex R series of instruments for quantification of erythrocyte fluorescence. These machines have greatly simplified and accelerated reticulocyte counts, improved the precision of reticulocyte analysis, and allowed semiquantitative assessment of reticulocyte RNA levels. The instrument aspirates whole blood, automatically mixes the sample with the auramine O reagent, which stains nucleic acid, has a precisely controlled incubation time and temperature, and analyzes up to 32,000 red cells. It simultaneously performs a red-cell count, thus providing a directly measured reticulocyte percentage and absolute count. In addition, the device calculates . . .