"We've used LaserCyte^® blood and platelet count information to save a lot of animals in trouble with blood loss, anemia and thrombocytopenia, pyometra and other serious conditions."

Randy Britt, DVM
Britt Animal Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama
IDEXX LaserCyte Hematology Analyzer owner since February, 2003

Adding Hematology to your Preanesthetic Workup.
Although most practices recognize that hematology is an important component of assessing a patient's health prior to anesthesia and/or surgery, there are still the challenges of adding a charge to the current price of a preanesthetic workup.

Explaining Preanesthetic Testing to Your Clients
Explain that there are several reasons a preanesthetic screen is just as important for a pet as it is for a person. A doctor does not want to risk anesthetizing a patient until he or she has determined that the patient is in good health. When your clients understand the necessity for testing, preanesthetic fees are more easily accepted as normal patient care. Explain that the cost for preanesthetic work includes a thorough snapshot of how their pet's liver, kidneys and other systems are functioning, and whether or not their pet is suffering from diabetes, pancreatitis, endocrine disorders, cancer or other unknown diseases.

With the LaserCyte® hematology analyzer, you get a wealth of medical information at a very low cost to the client. The cost of $4.40 per consumable tube can answer the following critical questions:

• Is anemia present and if so is it regenerative or nonregenerative?
• Is inflammation present with potential tissue necrosis or a hypersensitivity component?
• Is there evidence of superimposed stress?
• Is thrombocytopenia present?

All these questions can be answered quickly with the LaserCyte's comprehensive, 5-part CBC and reticulocytes. When you have a better understanding of red blood cell, white blood cell and platelet parameters, your patients are at a greatly reduced risk when undergoing anesthesia. Many practices upgrading to the LaserCyte are charging an additional 10% per CBC as part of the preanesthetic workup because of the advanced level of technology and additional parameters reported by the system.

Educated clients will pay for services they feel are beneficial. A quick conversation between your staff and the client can emphasize the value of preanesthetic testing, as well as including hematology as part of that screen. With the IDEXX LaserCyte Hematology Analyzer, you can include hematology for a low-cost, high-information return, using only a small amount of blood.

Here are some new tools from IDEXX to help you deliver the preanesthetic message to your clients.

 Anesthesia and your pet (1,338 KB)

 Good news, your pet is healthy (245 KB)

To receive more information, please contact your IDEXX representative or
call 1-800-340-4579.

Drawing Enough Blood for Hematology
The IDEXX VetCollect® 1.0-mL Veterinary Blood Collection Tube, designed specifically for use with the LaserCyte analyzer, makes drawing blood simple. The VetCollect tube's small sample size makes it especially useful for those patients that are difficult to draw blood from. IDEXX is the first company to produce a tube designed for veterinary use that draws only 1 mL of blood, unlike other purple-topped tubes that contain more EDTA and require a larger sample.

Commonly used small purple-topped blood collection tubes require 2.0–2.7 mL of blood. When drawing a small sample, excess EDTA in these tubes causes shrinkage of cells and morphologic changes that could interfere with correct interpretation. Not all purple-topped tubes are alike. Just because a purple-topped tube is smaller than the IDEXX VetCollect tube, does not mean it is meant for a smaller sample volume. You should always follow the collection device manufacturer's guidelines for proper sample collection in order to minimize preanalytic issues.

Each IDEXX LaserCyte reagent kit contains 25 VetCollect tubes. For more information on the benefits and proper use of the VetCollect tube, please see the technical tip section of this edition and the February edition of Diagnostic Edge.

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LaserCyte® adds IntraVet® to the Growing List of Connected Practice Information Systems

We are pleased to announce that our IDEXX LaserCyte Hematology Analyzer now interfaces with IntraVet Veterinary Information Management Systems. If you use IntraVet, this connectivity allows the flow of information from the LaserCyte into your patients' records, making a paperless practice possible and providing detailed diagnostics onscreen in minutes.

LaserCyte also interfaces with our own IDEXX Cornerstone® practice-management software and ImproMed practice-information software.

For inquiries, please contact:
IDEXX LaserCyte at 1-800-340-4579 or e-mail diagnosticedge@idexx.com
IDEXX Computer Services at 1-800-283-8386 or e-mail cornerstone@idexx.com

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State College, Pennsylvania
Thursday, May 20
Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association Spring Clinic
Penn State Conference Center Hotel

The Most Frequently Misdiagnosed Disease in Veterinary Medicine
Fred Metzger, DVM, DABVP
Peter Kintzer, DVM, ACVIM

Destin, Florida
Thursday, June 3
Georgia Veterinary Medical Association Meeting
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

The Most Frequently Misdiagnosed Disease in Veterinary Medicine
Fred Metzger, DVM, DABVP

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Sample Collection and Preparation for the IDEXX VetLab®

A single syringe can be used when collecting blood samples for use with your IDEXX VetLab® in-house analyzers (VetTest® Chemistry Analyzer, LaserCyte® Hematology Analyzer, VetLyte® Electrolyte Analyzer and SNAP® Reader for endocrine testing).

When enough blood has been drawn for use with all the tests you want to run, begin with your hematology test by simply inserting the needle through the stopper of a purple-topped IDEXX VetCollect® EDTA tube. Use a minimum of a 21-gauge needle to ensure that the red blood cells are not damaged during the transfer from syringe to tube.

While the sample is spinning down, inspect the CBC sample and remove any visible clots or any excess froth at the top. Insert the tube into the correct position in the loading tray of the IDEXX LaserCyte Hematology Analyzer and select the tests you want to run. With that test underway, your plasma or serum sample should be almost ready. When it is, you can transfer the plasma or serum into a small sample cup for use with your IDEXX VetTest or the IDEXX VetLyte. Serum must be used with the IDEXX SNAP Reader. This sample will also show you any sample quality issues, such as lipemia, icterus or hemolysis.

When all the tests are complete, the results will print out together. If you have any SNAP® ELISA tests to run, the leftover sample in your VetCollect tube can be used for those.

For more information on whole-blood sample collection and preparation with the IDEXX VetCollect tube, please see the February edition of Diagnostic Edge.

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... and we want you to hear from us! Pass the following link along to your friends and colleagues. They can register for the Diagnostic Edge to learn more about hematology, stay informed of the latest IDEXX hematology products and services, and respond to various customer and market surveys that we will soon offer. Registration is easy at www.idexx.com/diagnosticedge.

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