A method in evaluating urinary erythrocyte morphology: Computer assisted light microscopy (CALM)

Abstract

Objective: We recently suggest a model of a diagnostic system, which markedly improves the quality of the images supplied by computer assisted light microscopy (CALM) for urinary erythrocytes. Material and Methods: Freshly collected, mid-stream urine specimens were obtained from randomly selected 49 patients with hematuria. Twenty three patients had biopsy-proven glomerular disease and the other 26 had urological pathology, causing hematuria. Ten ml of all collected urine samples were centrifuged at 1,500 rpm for five minutes. The specimen was observed carefully by CALM, the proposed computerized system. Results: Morphological analysis of urinary erythrocytes in 49 patients with hematuria disclosed that the erythrocytes were glomerular in 22 patients, nonglomerular in 25 patients and mixed-type in 2 patients. Sensitivity and the specificity of the examination in diagnosing glomerular and nonglomerular bleeding were 95,6-92,3 %, and 92,3-95,6 %, respectively. Conclusions: In conclusion, all available means taken together point to this simple, noninvasive approach in routine algorithms for diagnosis of hematuria.