scope:

The intended purpose of this guideline is to explain how to collect, process, examine, store, and report results for body fluid specimens for the characterization of inflammatory, infectious, neoplastic, and immune alterations. It will also discuss preanalytical, analytical, and postanalytical variables related to body fluid cellular analyses. For the purpose of this document, the following body fluids will be discussed: cerebrospinal, serous (pleural, peritoneal, pericardial) and related fluids (i.e., peritoneal dialysate, peritoneal lavage), bronchoalveolar, and synovial fluids.

This guideline describes manual and automated methods to enumerate cellular components and to identify normal and abnormal elements. It also addresses additional studies that may be used for body fluid testing in the routine clinical laboratory.

This document is intended for medical technologists, pathologists, microbiologists, cytologists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals responsible for the collection and transport of body fluid specimens to the clinical laboratory, as well as the processing, testing, and reporting of results. It is also intended for manufacturers of products or instruments used for body fluid testing.