The effectiveness of BC-6800 to categorize cells from different body fluids was not compromised by the slight positive bias observed. This conclusion is supported by the high AUC and agreement between the automated method and the reference method. The results show that BC-6800 offers rapid, accurate, and reproducible results for clinical management of CAPD, ascitic, and pleural fluids.

Hereditary elliptocytosis (HE) is a hereditary membranopathy that comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases, which share irreversible erythrocyte elongation with a prolonged longitudinal diameter in relation to the cross-section (elliptocytes and ovalocytes), which acts as a morphological sign to guide diagnosis. It is characterised by certain molecular alterations to cytoskeleton proteins, such as mutations of alpha-spectrin, beta-spectrin, protein 4.2 and, more rarely, of glycophorin C [3].This disorder is considered rare, although its incidence is probably underestimated because most cases are pauci-or asymptomatic, and discovery is often fortuitous [8]. It can appear in several clinical forms (asymptomatic, mild, sporadic haemolysis, chronic haemolysis and hereditary pyropoikilocytosis), although most patients do not suffer from anaemia, and haemolysis is poorly marked if and when it occurs. Mild HE is more frequent with few clinical manifestations and with more than 15% of circulating elliptocytes found in peripheral blood [5].Very few studies have dealt with rheological red blood cell behaviour in patients with HE [1, 2, 4, 6, 7] in which erythrocyte deformability has been determined by ectacytometric techniques.We report a case of HE in a 37-year-old woman who was admitted to our hospital with clinical manifestations and analytic parameters compatible with marked iron deficiency anaemia in whom, after both treatment with iron therapy and correcting iron deficiency, a high percentage of elliptocytes was found in peripheral blood extension, which is compatible with HE.The patient came to our centre presenting long-term weakness, hair loss, brittle nails and occasional heartburn. She sometimes noticed her skin took on a yellowish colour. She never had choluric urine, lower back pain nor haemorrhagic symptoms, save heavy periods lasting up to 2 weeks, nor fever, frequent infections or nightly itching.The haematimetric test showed hypochromic microcytic anaemia: RBC count 4.86 × 10 6 / L, Hb 9.9 g/dL, Ht 33.1%, MCV 68 fL, MCH 20.4 pg, MCHC 29.9 g/dL, RDW 17.2%. The iron metabolism test highlighted: iron 21 g/dL, total iron-binding capacity 420 g/dL, IS 5% and ferritin 8 ng/mL. The vitamin B12 and folic acid values were within the normal range (474 pg/mL and 10.13 ng/mL, respectively).

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The detection of a soft-tissue mass requires a detailed and conscientious examination to make a definitive diagnosis and propose appropriate treatment strategies. Benign mesenchymal tumors occur more frequently than malignant tumors. However, because of their aggressive growth and poor prognosis, sarcomas must always be considered as a potential differential diagnosis. To make a formal diagnosis and plan appropriate surgical treatment, the surgeon should obtain cross-sectional imaging studies and biopsies.

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