Patent ID: 8361799

Claim:
A method for determining the hematocrit of a blood sample disposed within an analysis chamber, the chamber defined by an interior surface of a first panel, and an interior surface of a second panel, the method comprising the steps of: imaging at least a portion of the sample, which sample portion contains one or more red blood cells contacting both of the interior surfaces of the panels and one or more areas void of red blood cells, on a per image unit basis; determining a representative optical density value for a plurality of image units optically aligned with portions of the one or more red blood cells, which portions are in contact with the interior surfaces, and assigning a first boundary value to the representative optical density value of those image units; determining a representative optical density value of a plurality of image units optically aligned with the one or more regions of the sample devoid of red blood cells, and assigning a second boundary value to the representative optical density values of those image units; and determining the hematocrit of the sample, which determining includes assigning relative optical density values to image units of the imaged sample portion as a function of the first and second boundary values.