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Anisocytosis is a medical term meaning that a patient's red blood cells are of unequal size. This is commonly found in anemia and other blood conditions. False diagnostic flagging may be triggered on a complete blood count by an elevated WBC count, agglutinated RBCs, RBC fragments, giant platelets or platelet clumps due to anisocytosis.
EDTA-dependent agglutination. In some individuals, clinically insignificant antibodies may cause in vitro agglutination of platelets. As a result of platelet clumping, platelet counts reported by automated counters may be much lower than the actual count in the blood because these devices cannot differentiate platelet clumps from individual cells.
Giant platelet disorder; Two giant platelets (stained purple) are visible in this image from a light microscope (40×) from a peripheral blood smear surrounded by red blood cells. One normal platelet can be seen in the upper left side of the image (purple) and is significantly smaller in size than the red blood cells (stained pink). Specialty ...
Rouleaux formation on wet smear. Rouleaux (singular is rouleau) are stacks or aggregations of red blood cells (RBCs) that form because of the unique discoid shape of the cells in vertebrates. The flat surface of the discoid RBCs gives them a large surface area to make contact with and stick to each other; thus forming a rouleau.
Low levels of platelets in turn may lead to prolonged or excessive bleeding. It is the most common coagulation disorder among intensive care patients and is seen in a fifth of medical patients and a third of surgical patients. [3] A normal human platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets/microliter (μL) of blood. [4]
Reactive thrombocythemia is the most common cause of a high platelet count. It accounts for 88% to 97% of thrombocythemia cases in adults, and near 100% in children. In adults, acute infection, tissue damage, chronic inflammation and malignancy are the common causes of reactive thrombocythemia. Usually, one or more of these conditions is ...
Thick smears allow the microscopist to screen a larger volume of blood and are about eleven times more sensitive than the thin film, so picking up low levels of infection is easier on the thick film, but the appearance of the parasite is much more distorted and therefore distinguishing between the different species can be much more difficult.
On a stained blood smear, platelets appear as dark purple spots, about 20% of the diameter of red blood cells. The smear reveals size, shape, qualitative number, and clumping. A healthy adult typically has 10 to 20 times more red blood cells than platelets.