FBC Flashcards
Hb
The amount of haemoglobin in whole blood (g/L)
Hct
Haematocrit is the percentage of blood sample that is made up of RBCs
MCV
Meal cell volume is the average size of the RBCs (fL)
RCC
Red cell count (x10^9/L)
MCH
Mean corpuscular haemoglobin (amount of Hb per RBC - pg/cell)
Platelet count
Number of platelets (x10^9/L)
WCC
White cell count (x10^9/L)
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
- associated with B12/folate deficiency, liver damage, pregnancy
What does low MCV indicate?
- microcytic anaemia
- associated with iron deficiency, thalassaemia
What is normocytic anaemia?
- low RBC, normal MCV
- causes induce acute blood loss, increase in plasma volume, anaemia of chronic disease
What does high WCC indicate?
- leukocytosis
- causes include active infection, smoking, steroids, leukaemia, pregnancy
What does low WCC indicate?
- leukopenia
- causes include overwhelming infection, medications, B12/folate/iron deficiency, HIV
What does high platelet count indicate?
- thrombocytosis
- causes include infection, iron deficiency, myloproliferative disorders
What does low platelet count indicate?
- thrombocytopenia
- causes include viral infection, medication, pregnancy, cirrhosis, alcohol excess, HIV/Hep B/Hep C, B12/iron/folate deficiency
Alkaline phosphatase
Indicator of serum calcium (high = serum calcium low)
What does low urea indicate?
Liver damage
Prothrombin time
Time to clot (high = low in clotting factors)
Polycythaemia
High Hb
