Author Question: A patient's blood film had marked echinocytes and many broken and vacuolated neutrophils. The same ... (Read 65 times)

geoffrey · **on:** Jun 25, 2018

A patient's blood film had marked echinocytes and many broken and vacuolated neutrophils. The same patient's blood film the day before did not show these features. Select the best course of action.

a. Report the results.
b. Make a new film.
c. Disregard these findings as artifact.
d. Collect a new sample and make the film within 5 hours.

Question 2

Clumped platelets will cause which of the following spurious results when cell counts are performed on an automated hematology analyzer?

a. Platelets low and white count high
b. Platelets high and white count low
c. Platelets low and white count unaffected
d. Platelets low and hemoglobin high

s.meritte · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 25, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: D
Blood films made from ethylenediaminetetr aacetic acid (EDTA) blood that has remained at room temperature for more than 5 hours will often contain the findings noted previously. Slides should ideally be made within 2 to 3 hours of drawing the specimen if good quality morphology is desired.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: A
The presence of clumped platelets in blood will cause the platelet count to be low and the white count to be high when performed using an automated analyzer. The clumps of platelets may be of a similar size to white blood cells (WBCs) and the instrument cannot distinguish them as nonwhite cells.