Abstract

Complete blood count (CBC) is one of the most common laboratory tests. Preanalytical factors like specimen homogenization affect the CBC test results. In the emergency laboratory, test time is a ciritcal parameter. Optimization of test procedures is of critical importance to give more accurate results in a shorter time period. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of preanalytical mechanical mixing times on CBC parameters and to optimize the mechanical mixing time for the analysis. Mechanical mixing time of 1 and 5 minutes (t= 1 and t=5 respectively) with a rotary type mixer and automatic mixing performed by the Coulter LH 780 (t=0) prior to complete blood count analysis were evaluated. Between t=0 and t=1 minutes of mechanical mixing, only a significant change in MPV values were obtained (p

Key words: Complete blood count, preanalytical factors, mechanical mixing, emergency laboratory