Apparatus and process for the detection and counting of rarely occurring mammalian cells
US5751839A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 21, 1995 |
| Grant date | May 12, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 21, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N15/1468
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Apparatus and process capable of rapid detection and counting of rarely occuring mammalian cells in blood and other tissues which have been labeled with a fluorescent dye. The process includes: scanning a solid support on which a specimen potentially containing fluorescent cells has been deposited, with an incident beam from a laser, forming a laser spot on the solid support, the laser spot being substantially greater than the cells to be detected, the laser spot size being between 15 and 30 .mu.m; and simultaneously: detecting the resultant fluorescent light at least at one wavelength; establishing a set of correlated-features by a line-to-line correlation of individual features; comparing the correlated-features on each pair of adjacent lines in time synchrony, at least at two different wavelengths .lambda..sub.1 and .lambda..sub.2 ; making a size discrimination of retained events and selecting those having a size corresponding to the type of cells searched; determining if, for retained events after size discrimination, the events energy profile in three dimensions is within predetermined Gaussian shape criteria; and counting the remaining events to determine and to count exclusi…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.