AEGiS-GMHC: TREATMENT BRIEFS: Fluctuating T-Cells

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

TREATMENT BRIEFS: Fluctuating T-Cells

TREATMENT ISSUES, Volume 6, Number 5; The Gay Men's Health Crisis Newsletter of Experimental Therapies - May/June 1992
David Gold

There are many reasons for wide fluctuations in absolute T4 cell counts. Now, according to new reports, we can add two more factors: laboratories and personnel. An abstract (#P84) released by Dr. Peddecord and colleagues at the 5th National Forum on AIDS, Hepatitis and Blood Borne Infections, 1992, found a wide disparity in reported absolute T4 counts when blood samples taken from the same donor at the same time were analyzed by different commercial laboratories. Nine laboratories analyzed the same blood sample and reported a disparity of the absolute T4 count of the specimen in a range between 868 and 2401 cells. When two specimens were sent to the same laboratory under different labels the disparity in reported T4 counts ranged from 0 to 595 with an average difference of 209. An earlier ACTG survey of 60 labs found similar results with T4 counts of between 380-850 reported for the same specimen interestingly, the percentages of T4 counts reported by the laboratories were much more consistent. The range of percentages was 44% to 54%. Differences in T4 percentages found by the same laboratory varied from O% to 10%. Physicians, patients, and governmental agencies are all encouraged to use caution when basing treatment or financial assistance decisions on a single T4 test.

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