FBC Flashcards
Hb
The amount of haemoglobin in whole blood
Hct
Haematocrit is the percentage of blood sample that is made up of RBCs
MCV
Mean cell volume is the average size of RBCs
RCC
Red cell count
MCH
Mean corpuscapular haemoglobin (amount of Hb per RBC)
Platelet count
Number of platelets
WCC
White cell count
Neutrophils
Number of neutrophils
What does low Hb indicate?
Anaemia
What does high Hct indicate?
Increased blood viscosity associated with the formation of clots
What does high MCV indicate?
- macrocytic anaemia
- causes include B12/folate deficiency, liver disease, pregnancy
What does low MCV indicate?
- microcytic anaemia
- causes include iron deficiency, thalassemia
What is normocytic anaemia?
- low RBC, normal MCV
- causes include acute blood loss, increase in plasma volume (pregnancy or fluid overload), anaemia of chronic disease
What does high WCC indicate?
- leukocytosis
- causes include active infection, steroid use, leukaemia, smoking, pregnancy
What does low WCC indicate?
- leukopenia
- causes include infection (if overwhelmed ie sepsis), medications (antibiotics, biologics etc), B12/folate/iron deficiency, HIV
What does high platelet count indicate?
- thrombocytosis
- causes include infection, iron deficiency, myeloprofilerative disorder
What does low platelet count indicate?
- thrombocytopenia
- causes include viral infection, medications, pregnancy (pre-eclampsia), cirrhosis, alcohol excess, B12/folate/iron deficiency, HIV/Hep B/Hep C
Alkaline phosphatase
Indicator of serum calcium (high = low serum calcium)
What does low urea indicate?
Liver damage
Prothrombin time
Time to clot (high = low in clotting factors)
