Apparatus for obtaining an image of a blood cell and method for obtaining an image of a blood cell

• US 20070076190A1
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Inventors: Nakaya, Masanori, Tohma, Ryuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,796,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/39
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1433 using image recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/147 the analysis being performed on a sample stream
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/1486 Counting the particles

Abstract

A apparatus for obtaining an image of a blood cell is described, a representative one of which includes image obtainer for obtaining an image of a predetermined blood cell in a blood sample smeared on a sample holder; an analysis result obtainer for obtaining an analysis result of the blood sample; and a controller for controlling the image obtainer such that the image obtainer obtains the image under a first imaging condition when the analysis result does not indicate a presence of a predetermined anomalous cell, and obtains the image under a second imaging condition to be different from the first imaging condition when the analysis result indicates the presence of the predetermined anomalous cell.

Claims

1. An apparatus for obtaining an image of a blood cell, comprising:

an image obtainer for obtaining an image of a predetermined blood cell in a blood sample smeared on a sample holder;

an analysis result obtainer for obtaining an analysis result of the blood sample; and

a controller for controlling the image obtainer such that the image obtainer obtains the image under a first imaging condition when the analysis result does not indicate a presence of a predetermined anomalous cell, and obtains the image under a second imaging condition to be different from the first imaging condition when the analysis result indicates the presence of the predetermined anomalous cell.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined anomalous cell comprises an anomalous nucleated blood cell.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a detector for detecting a blood cell comprises a nucleated blood cell as the predetermined blood cell, wherein the image obtainer obtains the image of the predetermined blood cell detected by the detector.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the anomalous nucleated blood cell is selected from the group consisting of an immature leukocyte, an atypical lymphocytes, a nucleated red blood cell ,and combinations of thereof.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first imaging condition relates to a first number of the images, the second imaging condition relates to a second number of the images, the second number is larger than the first number.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:

a judging means for judging whether the predetermined blood cell in the image obtained by the image obtainer is the predetermined anomalous cell.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, under the second imaging condition, the controller controls the image obtainer such that the image obtainer stops obtaining a next image, when the judging means judges that the predetermined blood cell in the image obtained by the image obtainer is the predetermined anomalous cell.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, under the second imaging condition, the controller controls the image obtainer such that the image obtainer stops obtaining a next image, when a predetermined number of the predetermined blood cells are judged by the judging means.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first imaging condition relates to a first number of the images, and the predetermined number is larger than the first number.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined anomalous blood cell is selected from the group consisting of an immature leukocyte, an atypical lymphocyte, a nucleated red blood cell, and combinations of thereof.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined anomalous cell comprises aggregated platelets.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the first imaging condition relates to a first position on the sample holder for obtaining the image, the second imaging condition relates to a first position on the sample holder for obtaining the image;

and

wherein the second position has higher probability of presence of the aggregated platelets than first position.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the first position is a center or adjacent to the center of the blood sample on the holder, the second is a margin part of the blood sample on the holder.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analysis result obtainer obtains the analysis result from a blood analyzer for analyzing the presence of the predetermined anomalous cell in the blood sample.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sample holder comprises an identification part which identifies the blood sample and indicates the analysis result of the blood sample.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the identification part comprises a two-dimensional code.

17. A method for obtaining an image of a blood cell comprising:

obtaining a blood analysis result of a blood sample; and

obtaining an imaging of a predetermined anomalous cell in a blood sample smeared on a sample holder;

wherein the image is obtained under a first imaging condition when the analysis result dose not indicate a presence of a predetermined anomalous cell, and obtained under a second imaging condition to be different from a first imaging condition when the analysis result indicates a presence of a predetermined anomalous cell.

18. An apparatus for obtaining an image of a blood cell comprising:

an image obtainer for obtaining an image of a predetermined blood cell in a blood sample smeared on a sample holder;

an analysis result obtainer for obtaining a blood analysis result of the blood sample; and

a controller for controlling the image obtainer such that the image obtainer obtains a first number of the images when the analysis result indicates a number of a predetermined blood cell is larger than a predetermined value, and obtains a second number of the images, wherein the second number is smaller than the first number, when the analysis result indicates the number of the predetermined blood cell is smaller than the predetermined value.

19. An apparatus for obtaining an image of a blood cell comprising:

a detector for detecting a predetermined blood cell in a blood sample smeared on a sample holder;

an image obtainer for obtaining a image of the predetermined blood cell detected by the detector;

an analysis result obtainer for obtaining a number of the predetermined blood cell; and

a controller for controlling the detector such that the detector detects the predetermined blood cell when the number obtained by the analysis result obtainer is larger than a predetermined value.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined blood cell is a red blood cell.