Frequency of Causes of Spurious Platelets Count on Routine Complete Blood Count by an Automated Hematology Cell Analyser

Abstract

The present study was aimed to find out the causes of platelet count flagging marked on Complete Blood Count strip. This Cross-sectional study was conducted at Hematology Department Children Hospital and ICH, Lahore. A total of 350 blood samples were processed for the study and among them a total of 86 samples of blood in EDTA vial were studied with specific tag on platelet count on CBC strip. A specific designed Performa was used for data collection. All the collected data was entered to SPSS 22 (statistical package for social sciences) for analysis. Out of 86 samples 64 samples (74.4%) are giving spurious platelet count due to EDTA. EDTA is the number one cause of spurious platelet counts in CBC. Platelet satellitism around WBC is also the cause of pseudo thrombocytopenia in the current study, which is observed in 9 samples (10.5%). Other causes are minor but also of great importance. Causes for spurious counts vary from sample to sample. Abnormal CBC 4.7 %, overfilling of sample 4.7%, acute burn anemia with frequency of 3.5%, iron deficiency anemia and clotted samples have 2.3% frequency separately. While 3.5% samples were included in miscellaneous list. We concluded that EDTA dependent pseudo-thrombocytopenia is the most prevalent. Other technical errors (pre-analytical, analytical) can be reduced by proper training and education of laboratory staff. It is very important to rule out the correct cause of spurious platelet count on CBC as otherwise it will lead to unnecessary medication and investigations for patient.