Chokchaipermpoonphol Peempol, Lamtanthong Satana, Nokkaew Sathaporn
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand.
J Clin Lab Anal. 2025 Jan;39(1):e25135. doi: 10.1002/jcla.25135. Epub 2024 Dec 15.
Thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder, poses significant global health challenges, emphasizing the importance of accurate screening methods. Traditional diagnostic tools, such as osmotic fragility and dichlorophenolindophenol tests, along with blood indices, such as mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin, have limitations. Digital microscopy of peripheral blood smears is a promising alternative for objective quantification and standardization.
Blood samples from 81 thalassemia screening-negative and 41 screening-positive individuals were analyzed using Mindray MC-80 Digital Morphology.
Pre-classification of red blood cell (RBC) morphology using Mindray MC-80 revealed significant differences between the screening-positive and screening-negative groups. Various RBC morphologies demonstrated statistically significant variance, including hypochromic cells, schistocytes, elliptocytes, target cells, teardrop cells (p < 0.001), and ovalocytes (p = 0.002). However, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of these parameters was < 0.8, indicating a limited discriminatory power.
RBC morphology showed promise in detecting subtle changes associated with thalassemia. However, it may not be sufficient for accurate screening alone, highlighting the need for complementary diagnostic approaches.
地中海贫血是一种遗传性血液疾病，给全球健康带来了重大挑战，凸显了准确筛查方法的重要性。传统的诊断工具，如渗透脆性和二氯酚靛酚试验，以及血液指标，如平均红细胞体积和平均红细胞血红蛋白，都存在局限性。外周血涂片的数字显微镜检查是一种有前景的客观定量和标准化替代方法。
使用迈瑞MC-80数字形态学分析了81例地中海贫血筛查阴性和41例筛查阳性个体的血样。
使用迈瑞MC-80对红细胞（RBC）形态进行预分类显示，筛查阳性组和筛查阴性组之间存在显著差异。各种红细胞形态表现出统计学上的显著差异，包括低色素细胞、裂红细胞、椭圆形红细胞、靶形细胞、泪滴形细胞（p < 0.001）和卵形红细胞（p = 0.002）。然而，这些参数的受试者工作特征曲线下面积< 0.8，表明鉴别能力有限。
红细胞形态在检测与地中海贫血相关的细微变化方面显示出前景。然而，仅靠它可能不足以进行准确筛查，这突出了需要补充诊断方法。
