Using a standardised approach to diagnose chronic lymphocytic leukaemia should enable patients to have earlier access to treatments and help NHS laboratories.

As the population ages, more people are developing chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and there is increasing pressure to diagnose the condition. We need to find ways to increase the accuracy, speed and efficiency of diagnosis.

Action

We were funded by Becton Dickinson (BD) Biosciences Europe to measure the performance of BD OneFlow LST and B-CLPD T1 for diagnosing CLL.  We also assessed the economic value of adopting BD OneFlow LST and B-CLPD T1 in place of current practice.

Progress

There was 100% agreement between the BD OneFlow system and the current NHS test.

Using BD OneFlow saved 13 hours of staff time per 100 samples.

Laboratory and clinical staff considered the BD OneFlow system to be safe and effective.

Impact

• Using the BD OneFlow sytem could allow an increased workload to be handled more comfortably by the same workforce.
• CLL patients could receive a faster diagnosis and consequently earlier access to treatments.
• The BD OneFlow system provides standardised reagents and methods which should reduce processing errors.
• The technology could have a wider impact as it may aid the diagnosis of other blood cancers.
• The results were used by BD to inform their strategy for UK adoption.

Read the full published article by visiting this link.