Utility of RBC-Info. on urinary RBC shapes from UF-5000

Abstract

The morphological characteristics of red blood cells (RBCs) in urinary sediments are useful for predicting a bleeding site. Recently, UF-5000, which is a fully automated apparatus for classifying components formed in urine, has been widely used in clinical laboratories, and it can provide morphological information on RBC (RBC-Info.). However, the relationship between RBC-Info. and the microscopic visual examination method has not been reported. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of the RBC-Info. from UF-5000, and the information is compared with visually classified RBC shapes (hump type, donut type, spike type and target type) on the basis of the guidelines on urinary sediment examination procedures (GPI-P4). We showed that the RBC-Info. from UF-5000 is useful for classifying the RBC morphology from glomerular to nonglomerular types. Thus, our results indicate that RBC-Info. can be used in clinical laboratories to estimate RBC shapes in hematuria, similarly to the microscopic examination method.