Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort Campus, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
Vet Clin Pathol. 2022 Jun;51(2):225-230. doi: 10.1111/vcp.13076. Epub 2022 Mar 4.
Hematocrit (HCT) determination is an integral part of health and disease assessments in captive and wild white rhinoceroses. Several affordable automated hematology analyzers have been developed for in-clinic and field use and have the advantage of being able to measure a large number of additional measurands. However, the accuracy of these analyzers for rhinoceros HCT measurements has not yet been investigated.
We aimed to compare the HCT results generated by the EPOC portable analyzer system and the Abaxis VetScan HM5 with the gold standard of a manual packed cell volume (PCV) measured using the microhematocrit method.
Hematocrits were measured with the EPOC and the Abaxis VetScan HM5 (bovine setting) and compared with the PCVs of 69 white rhinoceros whole blood samples. Results were compared using Bland-Altman difference plots and Passing-Bablok regression analysis. A total allowable analytical error of 10% was set as the performance goal.
A significant positive bias, with a mean of 7.7% for the EPOC and 17.9% for the Abaxis, was found compared with the manual PCV method.
The allowable error goal of 10% was not exceeded with the EPOC analyzer. Although not analytically equivalent to the gold standard, the EPOC results could therefore be used as approximations in critical situations where manual measurements cannot be performed. The Abaxis exceeded this allowable error and overestimated HCTs in rhinoceroses. Therefore, method-specific reference intervals should be used.
在圈养和野生白犀牛的健康和疾病评估中，血细胞比容（HCT）的测定是一个重要组成部分。已经开发出几种价格实惠的自动化血液分析仪，用于临床和现场使用，并且具有能够测量大量其他可测量值的优势。然而，这些分析仪对白犀牛 HCT 测量的准确性尚未得到研究。
我们旨在比较 EPOC 便携式分析仪系统和 Abaxis VetScan HM5 生成的 HCT 结果与使用微血细胞比容法测量的手动红细胞压积（PCV）的金标准。
使用 EPOC 和 Abaxis VetScan HM5（牛设置）测量血细胞比容，并将其与 69 份白犀牛全血样本的 PCV 进行比较。使用 Bland-Altman 差值图和 Passing-Bablok 回归分析比较结果。将 10%的总允许分析误差设定为性能目标。
与手动 PCV 方法相比，EPOC 有 7.7%的显著正偏倚，而 Abaxis 有 17.9%的显著正偏倚。
EPOC 分析仪未超过允许的误差目标 10%。尽管与金标准在分析上不等效，但因此，在无法进行手动测量的危急情况下，EPOC 结果可以作为近似值使用。Abaxis 超过了这个允许的误差，高估了犀牛的 HCT。因此，应使用特定方法的参考区间。
