Counting and differential of bone marrow cells by an electronic method.

The authors studied the cell count and size distribution curves of nucleated cells in bone marrow aspirate, using a fully automatic blood cell counter, and compared the results with those of the traditional manual method. The cell count by the electronic method correlated well with that by the manual method when the cell concentration was 100 X 10(9)/L or less. The size distribution curve had two peaks. The small cell fraction found electronically correlated well with the lymphocyte and erythroblast fractions found manually on Giemsa-stained smears. The method was highly reproducible, and technical problems did not arise, so the authors think it can be used in routine clinical testing.