Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A blood smear can be used to view individual red blood cells. The diameter of each red blood cell can be measured, which is usually analogous to volume. [2] This is usually performed automatically by particle counters. [2] [4] Data is then converted into a histogram. [1] This can be used to assess red blood cell distribution width (RDW). [1] [4]
Modern complete blood count analyzers can provide an automated white blood cell differential, but they have a limited ability to differentiate immature and abnormal cells, so manual examination of the blood smear is frequently indicated. [5] [6] Blood smear examination is the preferred diagnostic method for certain parasitic infections, such as ...
The CBC is used to determine the number or proportion of white and red blood cells in the body. Previously, this procedure involved preparing a peripheral blood smear and manually counting each type of cell under a microscope, a process that typically required a half-hour.
Wright's stain is a hematologic stain that facilitates the differentiation of blood cell types. It is classically a mixture of eosin (red) and methylene blue dyes. It is used primarily to stain peripheral blood smears, urine samples, and bone marrow aspirates, which are examined under a light microscope.
A white blood cell differential is a medical laboratory test that provides information about the types and amounts of white blood cells in a person's blood. The test, which is usually ordered as part of a complete blood count (CBC), measures the amounts of the five normal white blood cell types – neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils – as well as abnormal cell ...
Overfilling the sample, or inadequately mixing with anticoagulant, may allow small clots to form. Unlike platelet clumps, clots usually cannot be detected by reviewing the peripheral blood smear, but may be detected by probing with wooden sticks, including checking under the cap. [6]
Conventionally, a leukocytosis exceeding 50,000 WBC/mm 3 with a significant increase in early neutrophil precursors is referred to as a leukemoid reaction. [2] The peripheral blood smear may show myelocytes, metamyelocytes, promyelocytes, and rarely myeloblasts; however, there is a mixture of early mature neutrophil precursors, in contrast to the immature forms typically seen in acute leukemia.
Blood smear showing red blood cells with basophilic stippling. Basophilic stippling, also known as punctate basophilia, is the presence of numerous basophilic granules that are dispersed through the cytoplasm of erythrocytes in a peripheral blood smear. They can be demonstrated to be RNA.