Evaluation of the automated hematology analyzer Sysmex XT-2000iV™ compared to the ADVIA® 2120 for its use in dogs, cats, and horses: Part I--precision, linearity, and accuracy of complete blood cell count.

The automated laser-based hematology analyzer Sysmex XT-2000iV™ providing a complete blood cell count (CBC) and 5-part differential has been introduced in large veterinary laboratories. The aim of the current study was to determine precision, linearity, and accuracy of the Sysmex analyzer. Reference method for the accuracy study was the laser-based hematology analyzer ADVIA® 2120. For evaluation of accuracy, consecutive fresh blood samples from healthy and diseased cats (n = 216), dogs (n = 314), and horses (n = 174) were included. A low intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) of approximately 1% was seen for the CBC except platelet count (PLT). An intra-assay CV ranging between 2% and 5.5% was evident for the differential count except for feline and equine monocytes (7.7%) and horse eosinophils (15.7%). Linearity was excellent for white blood cell count (WBC), hematocrit value, red blood cell count (RBC), and PLT. For all evaluated species, agreement was excellent for WBC and RBC, with Spearman rank correlation coefficients (r(s)) ranging from >0.99 to 0.98. Hematocrit value correlated excellently in cats and dogs, whereas for horses, a good correlation was evident. A good correlation between both analyzers was seen in feline and equine PLT (r(s) = 0.89 and 0.92, respectively), whereas correlation was excellent for dogs (r(s) = 0.93). Biases were close to 0 except for mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (4.11 to -7.25 mmol/l) and canine PLT (57 × 10(9)/l). Overall, the performance of the Sysmex analyzer was excellent and compared favorably with the ADVIA analyzer.