Patent ID: 7892850

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring immature platelets comprising: a sample preparation unit configured to prepare an assay sample by adding a reagent comprising a fluorescent dye to a blood specimen; a detection unit comprising a semiconductor laser light source configured to irradiate the assay sample with laser light; a first detector configured to detect scattered light emitted from particles within the assay sample irradiated by the laser light; and a second detector configured to detect fluorescent light emitted from particles within the assay sample irradiated by the laser light; a display; and a controller configured to: obtain a first signal indicative of scattered light intensities of the particles in the assay sample based on the detected scattered light; obtain a second signal indicative of fluorescent light intensities of the particles in the assay sample based on the detected fluorescent light; scale the first and second signals onto a two-dimensional scattergram that displays dots corresponding to the obtained scattered light intensities and the obtained fluorescent light intensities of the particles, wherein the scattergram comprises: a scattered light intensity and a fluorescent light intensity as coordinate axes; a predetermined immature platelets region; and a predetermined mature platelets region; determine a first count indicative of a number of the first and second signals scaled onto the predetermined immature platelets region of the two-dimensional scattergram; determine a second count indicative of a number of the first and second signals scaled onto the predetermined mature platelets region of the two-dimensional scattergram; determine whether a ratio of the first count over a sum of the first and second counts exceeds a predetermined threshold; output the prepared scattergram to the display; and output an indicator to the display if the ratio exceeds the predetermined threshold.