In a word, no.

Type "flow cytometry print out" into Google Images.
I realise that's not very helpful, but what exactly are you asking here?

LE preps....... does anyone do these any more?

Douglas,

I know absolutely nothing about flow cytometry. This is a branch of the
Hematology Department and the last time I did any hematology was twenty
years ago, and it was only basic stuff. Flow didn't exist when I trained
back in the 70's.

ANA's (antinuclear antibodies) are done at a screening dilution. If
negative there, no further testing is done. If the screening dilution is
positive, then the serum is further diluted or "titered" out to the end
point. Certain patterns indicate further tests to be run. That's about
all I know about them. This test was only beginning to be used when I
trained and it was a sendout then. We did not start to do them until
much later, and I personally have never performed them, as they are done
in the Serology department of most labs. I've only ever performed very
basic serology testing - usually STAT stuff. ANA's are not a STAT
procedure, and it takes a lot of training to be able to know how to read
the patterns and properly interpret them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_antibody - more information
http://arthritis.webmd.com/antinuclear-antibodies-ana
http://tinyurl.com/238nap
http://tinyurl.com/22nfhc - pics of some of the fluorescent patterns
here - test is performed on special slides with cells (various types)
and read under a fluorescent microscope. There is a table down near the
bottom that lists the various patterns that correlate with disease
processes. All positive patterns are co-signed by a pathologist before
charting. It takes quite awhile to become proficient in reading these
tests.

I don't think anyone does LE preps any more. There are more modern ways
to diagnose lupus nowadays. The preps itself exposed the technologist to
large amounts of blood and aerosols, which would not be acceptable in
these days of HIV and Hepatitis B and C. The way we did them in the
70's, when I trained, was to draw a tube of blood, allow it to clot.
Then the actual clot was forced through a special copper (?) sieve with
something that mashed it through. The mashed blood clot was put onto
slides (specially prepared pull-apart slides). It was an art form to get
them done correctly. Then the techs had to manually scan at least four
of these slides (I think) from end to end, row after row, looking for
the special LE cells. I don't remember what they were supposed to look
like. They were tedious to read, took forever, and depended on the
technologist knowing what the cells looked like and not giving into
scanning fatigue. You had to traumatize the cells in order to get the LE
cells to form, assuming that the antibodies were present. At another
hospital we used to draw them in tubes with beads inside to traumatize
them that way. I never saw how they made their preps as I worked in
micro there and only drew the blood when I went on the floor in the
morning.

http://www.thecrookstoncollection.com/v/tests/LE-cellprep-zoom.jpg.html  
- here's some more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_cytometry - basic information, not
very medically oriented
http://biology.berkeley.edu/crl/flow_cytometry_basic.html - more
extremely technical stuff

I know they use flow to stage breast tumors, but how this is done I
cannot say. Sorry I can't help you out.

Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology

"douglas" <Protoman2050@gmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:af071acc-bde3-4b75-b811-

Only in that it yields some percentages dealing with the distribution of
white blood cells subpopulations.

Subpopulation classification criteria differ from the "acid dye vs basic dye
affinity" criteria (eventually leading to what we call "morpholgy patterns")
the classic smear is based upon.

SLE diagnostic criteria encompass more than  laboratory tests.

this one,

ciao