CBCs

Question 1

What is measured in CBC?

Answer 1

Red blood cell data
White blood cell data
Platelet count

Question 2

What is part of the RBC count?

Answer 2

Hemoglobin - part of RBCs that carries O2 (measures perfusion)
– measurement reflects the number of RBCs in the peripheral blood
Hematocrit - percent of total blood volume that is made of RBCs, as opposed to plasma and WBCs/platelets (can indicate dehydration)

Question 3

What is polycythemia?

Answer 3

Elevated hematocrit

Question 4

What is anemia?

Answer 4

Decreased hematocrit

Question 5

What is normal hemoglobin level?

Answer 5

Female: 12-15.5 g/dL
Male: 13.5-17.5 g/dL

Question 6

What is normal hematocrit level?

Answer 6

Female: 35-44.5%
Male: 39-50%

Question 7

What are causes of low hemoglobin?

Answer 7

Kidney disease (kidneys stimulate the bone marrow to make RBCs)
Liver disease (can cause toxicity to bone marrow and impact RBC production)
Anemia (iron deficiency is the biggest cause of low hemoglobin because iron is needed to make hemoglobin)

Question 8

What are causes of high hemoglobin?

Answer 8

Chronic lung disease (Body compensates for decreased lung function by making more hemoglobin to get as much oxygen to tissues as possible)
Dehydration (Not actually higher - just too high of a ratio with water)
Heart failure (same idea as lung disease)

Question 9

What is included in the WBC count?

Answer 9

Count of total leukocyte (all different types of WBCs) count in 1mm^3 of peripheral blood

Question 10

What is a normal WBC count range?

Answer 10

4,000-10,000 WBC/mL

Question 11

What causes elevated WBC count?

Answer 11

Infection
Inflammatory disease (autoimmune disease)

Question 12

What causes low WBC count?

Answer 12

Prolonged infection or autoimmune disorder like HIV/AIDS (because immune system eventually cannot keep up)
Cancer
Aplastic anemia
Chemo/radiation

Question 13

What is a WBC differential?

Answer 13

Shows the percent of each type of leukocyte in a specimen

Question 14

What do neutrophils do and what is their normal level?

Answer 14

-Arrive first in inflammatory response to destroy and ingest pathogens
-Levels will be high with an acute infection or injury
-Lifespan of 10 hours then they must be replenished

45-74%

Question 15

What are bands and what is their normal level?

Answer 15

-immature neutrophils that are released after injury or inflammation, which indicates body didn’t clear infection and the inflammatory process is still occurring.

0-4%

Question 16

What are eosinophils and what is their normal level?

Answer 16

-Found in skin, airway, and blood
-increase during allergic and inflammatory reactions and parasitic infection

-0-7%

Question 17

What are basophils and what are their normal range?

Answer 17

-contain heparin and histamine: involved in allergic and stress situations and might prevent clotting in microcirculation

0-2%

Question 18

What are monocyte and what is their normal range?

Answer 18

-Take 5+ hours to arrive at site of injury
-phagocytic (remove foreign pathogens and particles as well as dead cells)

Normal range varies depending on the source: 2-8% or 3-10%

Question 19

What are lymphocytes and what are their normal range?

Answer 19

-fight viral infections: B and T cells
-involved in immunoglobin formation and provide cellular immunity (respond to antigen detection by antibodies)

16-45%

Question 20

What are platelets and what are their normal range?

Answer 20

-Clotting!

150,000-450,000 platelets/mL

Question 21

Why would platelets be low?

Answer 21

Anything that causes bone marrow to not make platelets (bone marrow cancer)
Vitamin B12 deficiency (B12 required to make platelets)
Aplastic anemia
Chemotherapy
Hemorrhage

Question 22

What would cause increased platelet levels?

Answer 22

Some rare genetic disorders