Patent ID: 7482165

Claim:
A method of measuring mean cell volume of red blood cells in a blood sample comprising the steps of: (a) mixing a first aliquot of said blood sample with an isotonic blood diluent to form a first sample mixture; (b) measuring volumes of blood cells in said first sample mixture, and obtaining a red blood cell distribution histogram; (c) determining a red blood cell distribution mode on said red blood cell distribution histogram; (d) determining a white blood cell distribution mode beyond a predetermined limit on said red blood cell distribution histogram; (e) determining a valley between said white blood cell distribution mode and said red blood cell distribution mode; (f) defining a red blood cell region as a region below said valley on said red blood cell distribution histogram; (g) calculating said mean cell volume of said red blood cells in said red blood cell region; and (h) reporting said mean cell volume of said red blood cells in said blood sample.