Evaluation of the Sysmex XQ‐320 three‐part differential haematology analyser and its flagging capabilities

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThree‐part differential (3PD) haematology analysers offer a quick, easy‐to‐use and economical way to acquire important information about a patient's physiology. In this study, we evaluated a new 3PD analyser, the Sysmex XQ‐320, investigated its comparability with its predecessor (Sysmex XP‐300) and the five‐part differential analyser Sysmex XN‐9000, and explored its flagging potential.MethodsAnalytical performance studies were conducted for repeatability, within‐laboratory precision, between‐day precision, carry‐over and linearity with fresh blood and QC material. Method comparison was performed in 493 samples comparing XQ‐320 with XP‐300, using the XN‐9000 as the gold standard.ResultsThe XQ‐320 excelled manufacturer's specifications in the analytical performance studies, except for MXD in within‐laboratory and between‐day precisions using the QC material level 1. The XQ‐320 showed correlation values greater than 0.94 with XN‐9000 for the majority of the 20 reportable parameters (MXD# 0.891, MXD% 0.898 and MCHC 0.849). Improvements over the XP‐300 were observed in WBC in the leucocytopenic range (bias −0.038 vs. −0.097) and PLT (bias 2.568 vs. −7.877, intercept 3.880 vs. −8.845). Concordance between XQ‐320 and XP‐300 was 91.9% for the WBC histogram abnormal distribution flag and 95.3% for the PLT flag. Patterns of increased neutrophils and decreased mixed cells on the XQ‐320 were observed in samples that raised a flag on XN‐9000.ConclusionThe XQ‐320 showed excellent analytical performance, and very good to excellent correlation with XN‐9000 with improvements over XP‐300. Flagging combined with parameter patterns identified additional suspected abnormal samples, thus making the XQ‐320 an excellent solution for laboratories utilising 3PD analysers.