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Role of Automated Volume, Conductivity and Scatter (VCS) Parameters of Neutrophils as Indicators of Sepsis

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Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study was done to evaluate the role of automated volume, conductivity and scatter (VCS) parameters of neutrophils as indicators of sepsis and its differentiation from other inflammatory disorders. In this cross-sectional study, 225 patients with culture proven or with clinical evidence of sepsis were included along with an equal number of healthy controls. In addition, 138 patients with non-infective inflammatory conditions-acute pancreatitis (50), burns (45) and acute myocardial infarction (43) were also included. Complete blood count was done on LH750 automated hematology analyser (Beckman Coulter). VCS data; mean neutrophil volume (MNV), mean neutrophil conductivity (MNC) and mean neutrophil scatter (MNS) for all patients was recorded. MNV was high (p < .0001) while MNS was lower (p < .0001) in patients with sepsis compared to the control group. MNC was comparable between the two groups (p = .4735). On subgroup analysis of patients with sepsis, significant difference in MNV (p = .0009) and MNS (p = .0210) was observed in patients with leukopenia, normal TLC and leucocytosis. Youden Index was maximum (71%) at MNV of 144.6 (sensitivity-82.7%; specificity-88.5%) and MNV of 147.9 (sensitivity-75.6%; specificity-95.6%) for sepsis. On comparing patients with sepsis with acute pancreatitis and myocardial infarction, MNV and MNC were significantly higher in patients with sepsis. MNV is a useful, inexpensive parameter which can be accessed during a routine CBC run from the raw data. It can be utilized as an early indicator of sepsis as an adjunct to the clinical diagnosis in suspect patients. However, its availability in only select hematology analyzers may limit its use.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted at Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab as a thesis for the post graduate MD pathology course for the first author. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Ranjeet Mashon for help in data retrieval and statistics. The data has been presented as an oral paper by the first author in the 59th Annual Conference of Indian Society of Hematology & Blood Transfusion (ISHBT) October 2018, Kochi, India

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur, 342001, Rajasthan, India

    Shruti Vaswani

  2. Department of Pathology, Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College and Hospital, Kumarhatti, Solan, 173229, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Naveen Kakkar

  3. Oncquest Laboratories Limited Mohandai Oswal Hospital, Ludhiana, 141009, Punjab, India

    Kanwardeep Singh Kwatra

  4. Department of Medicine, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, 141008, Punjab, India

    Mary John

Authors
  1. Shruti Vaswani
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  2. Naveen Kakkar
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  3. Kanwardeep Singh Kwatra
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  4. Mary John
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Contributions

SV collected the data, conducted literature search, analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. NK, MSK and MJ conceived the idea, reviewed the literature, analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. MJ was involved in clinical care of patients. All authors have read and approved the final draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shruti Vaswani.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study has been approved by the institutional research and ethics committees, and by the Dean (Principal) of the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, where it was conducted.

Consent to participate

Individual consent from healthy individuals who comprised the control group was taken. Patient consent was waived off by the institutional research committee since all data collected was part of standard care.

Consent for publication

Consent for publishing the research has been obtained by from the institutional research committee. Individual patient consent was waived off by the institutional research committee as this study is based on CBC parameters and no patient identifying information has been used.

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Vaswani, S., Kakkar, N., Kwatra, K.S. et al. Role of Automated Volume, Conductivity and Scatter (VCS) Parameters of Neutrophils as Indicators of Sepsis. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus 38, 710–717 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-022-01519-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-022-01519-z

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