Charity No. 1078183
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
