Flow systems diagnostic technology: a review

The practice of medicine today is intimately dependent upon an increasing number and range of medical laboratory tests performed in hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices. Some of these are examinations that have been automated, notably in biochemistry, but most of the tests that require classification or evaluation of cells still are performed manually. This includes cytologic examinations for cancer cells, differential blood and bone marrow counts, examinations of the urinary sediment, bacteriologic examinations, chromosome karyotyping, blood typing and cross-matching, and research examinations of potential clinical application, such as tissue typing or immunofluorescence. While human judgment may always be needed to interpret, if not to carry out many of these examinations, it is likely that automated instruments can and will become ever more important laboratory aids. Some simple tests are now routinely performed by automated devices that combine blood handling and diluting technology with particle counters; but other laboratory examinations of cellular specimens will require more complex instrumentation than the simple single-parameter measurements of the kind used for cell counting. To perform these tasks, other instruments are being designed that carry out simultaneous multiparameter measurements on individual cells in an effort to distinguish different cell types.