Objective: To determine whether a smartphone-obtained image can be used to extrapolate the PCV of canine blood samples.
Design: Prospective study of surplus blood obtained from clinical cases.
Setting: University teaching hospital.
Interventions: Blood samples were placed on filter paper, and images were obtained with a smartphone in different environments. These results were then compared to the PCV measurements on the same samples following the World Health Organization guidelines.
Measurements: Sixty-nine samples were assessed and identified that smartphone images, obtained in a controlled environment, were able to predict the PCV of the samples. This prediction was most accurate when assessing samples of a normal erythroid mass or polycythemic samples.
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that smartphone-obtained images do have a utility in predicting canine PCV. If this can be incorporated into a smartphone application, there would be scope to use this in low resource settings.
Keywords: anemia; diagnostics; hematocrit estimation.
© Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society 2020.