Hello. I’m a new LOINC user and was wondering if someone could explain the difference between LOINCs 13524-4 and 75353-3. I’m trying to decide which one to use for a new result component I’ve built, but from what I can tell, both are very similar. One does have a higher rank than the other, but I’m not sure if that is an appropriate or sufficient criteria by which to choose one code over the other.
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Hello,
Welcome and thanks for your question. The LOINCs are for different types of cells. What is the result that you are trying to map these to? Provide as much information as possible.
In performing a body fluid cell count, typically a 100 cell differential of cells is performed. They are typically reported as the type of cell/Leukocytes. Different laboratories may have differently named results for how they report less frequently encounted cells. LOINC 13524-4 Leukocytes other/Leukocytes in Body fluid by Manual count specifies other leukocytes. They can be immature leukocytes, lekocytes with morphology that differs from the other leukocytes, etc. (On a bone marrow differential with a leukemia patient, I classified counts of the different cells “odd” morphology we saw with some cells before the pathologist review, who concurred.)
LOINC 75353-3 Other cells/Leukocytes in Body fluid by Manual count describes other cells in the body fluid. These could be red cells, platelets, mesothelial cells or in rare cases cancer cells from elsewhere in the body that have metastasized. Usually Mesothelial cells are counted and delineated separately, but it depends on how the laboratory has established their procedures and protocols for reporting Cell Counts. In some cases they may be lumpers of cells into broader results and in other cases they may be splitters, delineated each cell type separately.
How does the laboratory report their cell counts on body fluids for the result components you are building? It’s important to know the details so you can map to the most detailed/accurate LOINC for how they report.
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Thank you for the reply and apologies for the delayed response. There were a number of changes to our build and various decisions requiring pathologist approval that needed to be addressed before I could give an accurate response. But the feedback you provided was very helpful and it seems LOINC 75353-3 is the appropriate code to use, since the result component I’ve built will include mesothelial cells.
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