Abstract

Leishman stain (LS),a modified Romanowski stain is routinely used in hematology fails to give a rapid diagnosis in medical emergencies. In this Era of rapid diagnostic methods there is a need for a stain which reduces the turnaround time without compromising the quality of the peripheral smears. Field’s stain (FS) is a rapid version of Romanowski stain, smears are stained with in 1min. Modified leishman stain (MLS),a modification in Leishman stain by Fasakin et al where PHENOL an accentuating agent is added to reduce the process to 4 mins. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to compare the staining quality of Modified leishman stain, Leishman stain and Field’s stain on peripheral smears. METHODOLOGY: 3 set of peripheral smears were made from each blood sample, one for Modified leishman stain, Leishman stain and Field’s stain respectively. A Total of 300 smears were studied and scored based on five parameters that is overall staining, cytoplasmic and nuclear staining of leucocytes , RBC staining and platelet staining. The results were recorded, statistical analysis (ANOVA) was done using software SPSS20. RESULTS: It is observed that Modified leishman stain showed a significant high average score compared to Leishman stain and FS (P value - 0.0001). However there was no statistical significance in the staining quality between Field’s stain and Leishman stain (P value - 0.2). CONCLUSION: Modified leishman stain showed excellent staining results in 4mins.Modified leishman stain stand out as a great alternative to Leishman stain in a medical emergency as a rapid diagnostic method.

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