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Flow
Cytometer
Rising to a challenge is what
LINC does best and when we decided to raise £120,000 for a state of the
art flow cytometer we knew it would be tough.
However this piece of equipment
would prove invaluable in the diagnosis and treatment of leukaemia and
lymphoma, and would help medical teams differentiate between residual
disease and reactive cells. This was all the motivation we needed!
An estimated 120 new cases of
leukaemia are now diagnosed each year; an average 400 lymphoma patients
have their disease typed and staged by this means and, in the future, it
could be used to measure white blood cell concentrations prior to stem
cell transplant and possibly to detect certain other tumour markers. Our
machine is in almost constant use.
Not only did we install this
equipment in August 2005, we went on to fund an extra biomedical
scientist for the laboratory to work with the equipment. The biomedical
scientist has now become such an integral and necessary part of the
research process that Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
agreed to take over the salary costs for this role in August.
Flow
Cytometry
Flow Cytometry is
the rapid sequential analysis of single cells, usually using laser light
and fluorescent labels. Many different monoclonal antibodies with
fluorescent labels are now available, and these can be combined to
identify specific cell types in complex mixtures of cells. Flow Cytometry is
a specialist technique and is used for a number of different
applications:
-
Diagnosis and typing of
Acute Leukaemia
-
Diagnosis of
Lymphoproliferative disorders, eg CLL and Lymphoma
-
Minimal residual disease –
monitoring of remission and relapse.
-
HIV monitoring (CD4/8
counts)
-
Stem cell counting
(suitability for stem cell harvest)
-
PNH screen
-
Feto-Maternal
Haemorrhage quantitation (FMH
Quantitation)
The complex data
produced by the analyser, is interpreted by the Biomedical Scientists
and a provisional diagnosis made. This is then passed to the Consultant
Haematologist (where appropriate) for approval.
The laboratory
participates in National and Regional Quality Assurance schemes for all
of the investigations performed on the flow cytometer ensuring a high
quality of performance is maintained.
David Miles
David Ah-Moye
2008
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