Vithas Red Diagnóstica is part of the Vithas group. It specialises in diagnosing diseases through clinical analysis, imaging diagnosis and pathological anatomy.

Its clinical analysis division includes a veterinary section, based in the city of Vigo, equipped with state-of-the-art analysers for haematology, biochemistry, and hormone determinations. They also perform serological tests for both small and large animals.

Sysmex spoke with Dr Ana Pérez Creo, head of the division's veterinary unit, about her lab's experience with the XN-1000V with PLT-F from Sysmex. She explains how the XN-1000V has allowed them to introduce automated blood analysis of non-mammalians - fish, birds and reptiles - and thus enabled closer collaboration with northern Spain's vital aquaculture sector.

Sysmex
How long have you been working with the Sysmex haematology analyser?

Dr Creo
The veterinary laboratory has been working with the equipment since 2019.

Sysmex
How have the features of the XN-1000V with PLT-F impacted your work?

Dr Creo
The PLT-F channel has allowed us to offer new services to veterinarians such as the evaluation of thrombocytopenias. It has also allowed us to diversify our service into a growing field of veterinary medicine, which is aquaculture. In this field, a large number of samples are usually submitted at the same time, so manual analysis was unfeasible in terms of laboratory workflow.

Sysmex
Can you explain how the laboratory workflow has changed with respect to non-mammalian samples?

Dr Creo
With manual analysis, a technician had to dedicate themselves exclusively to the haematological analysis of bird, reptile or fish samples. With the implementation of the PLT-F channel, there is simply one more haematological sample to analyse and therefore the workflow has been improved and the turnaround time for results has been shortened.

Sysmex
Has the use of PLT-F opened up new analysis possibilities for your laboratory?

Dr Creo
As I said, until the introduction of the channel, it was very difficult to offer a service for the needs that were emerging in aquaculture. This field is undergoing great advances and changes and therefore, they need to analyse how these changes affect individuals. Attempts are being made to introduce new species into aquaculture that until now could only be consumed from their extraction directly from the sea. All this work needs laboratory support to tell us how the fish are reacting. It has allowed us to work closely with organisations and institutions involved in research in this field.

Sysmex
How can XN-1000V with PLT-F help in the identification of diseases in aquaculture species?

Dr Creo
As with terrestrial animals, diseases often produce changes at the biochemical and haematological level. Many of them in aquaculture are clearly manifested by decreases in haematocrit and haemoglobin counts, for example.

Sysmex
What has been your experience in terms of training and support?

Dr Creo
From the first moment we were accompanied to solve any problem and we received extensive training to get the maximum information from the PLT-F channel. During this time we have had doubts and incidents that were always answered almost instantly, which we are very grateful for, as we try not to delay the delivery of results to our customers. In fact, we consider the Sysmex team to be one of our best allies in our work because of their speed and reliability.

Sysmex
Is there anything we haven't covered that you would like to mention?

Dr Creo
I don't have the feeling that there is anything that is not covered at the moment. Our goal is to continue growing and we may have to implement new equipment and new methodology in the future and in this case we will always rely on you.

Veterinary solutions

Learn more