Ch. 18 - Anemias: Red Blood Cell Morphology and Approach to Diagnosis (RVSP) Flashcards
2 classical symptoms of anemia
- fatigue
- shortness of breath
2 important components in making clinical diagnosis of anemia
- history
- physical examination
Condition having a symptom of pica
Iron deficiency
Having cravings for unusual substances
Pica
Craving for ice
Pagophagia
Shift in the oxygen dissociation curve caused by 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate
Shift to the right (decreased oxygen affinity of Hb)
Percent of RBCs removed per day due to senescence
1%
Marrow erythroid proliferative activity
Erythropoiesis
Production of erythroid progenitor cells that are defective
Ineffective erythropoiesis
3 examples of conditions for ineffective erythropoiesis
- megaloblastic anemia
- thalassemia
- sideroblastic anemia
A decrease in the number of erythroid precursors in the bone marrow
Insufficient erythropoiesis
Measure of the average RBC volume in femtoliters (fL)
MCV
Most important RBC indice to detect anemia
MCV
Unit for MCV
Femtoliters (fL)
An RBC volume frequency distribution curve
RBC histogram
With normal population of RBCs, the distribution of the RBC histogram is approximately ___________
Gaussian
Shift in the RBC histogram due to microcytosis
Left shift
Shift in the RBC histogram due to macrocytosis
Right shift
Causes widening of the curve of the RBC histogram
Anisocytosis
The coefficient of variation of RBC volume expressed as a percentageq
RDW
Indicates the variation in RBC volume within th epopulation measured
RDW
Important tool to assess the bone marrow’s ability to increase RBC production in response to an anemia
Reticulocyte count
Young RBCs lacking a nucleus but still containing residual RNA
Reticulocytes
Adult reference range for reticulocyte count
0.5 - 1.5%
Newborn reference range for retic count
1.5 - 5.8%
Reference range for absolute retic count
25-75 x 10^9/L
Average normal hematocrit
45