4- Evaluation of the blood smear

Question 1

Why should we evaluate a blood smear?

Answer 1

Spot equipment errors
Find things that machines can’t = bands, immature neutrophils, toxic change, red cell morphology

Question 2

What are the 3 zones of a blood smear?

Answer 2

Feathered edge
Body
Monolayer

Question 3

What can be seen in the feathered edge of a blood smear?

Answer 3

Platelet clumps, big cells & big parasites

Question 4

What can be seen in the body of a blood smear?

Answer 4

Rouleaux (aggregrations), agglutination

Question 5

What can be seen in the monolayer of a blood smear?

Answer 5

RBC density, WBC numbers, estimated differential

Question 6

What magnification do you look at RBC

Answer 6

x 40

Question 7

when would you use mag x10 to look at blood smear

Answer 7

orientation and to identify the 3 zones

Question 8

what do you look at when looking at blood smear on mag x40 and x100

Answer 8

platelet numbers and morphology
RBC morphology
WBC morphology
WBC differential count

Question 9

what is anisocytosis

Answer 9

variation in size