FECAL ARTIFACTS Flashcards
Feces contain various components including
undigested food, digestive by- products, human cells, secretion from digestive tract, microorganisms
rounded or angular when seen in fecal samples, no internal structures and will stain pink to purple in iodine mounts
starch granules
epithelial cells show close resemblance to amebic trophozoites in size and shape
True
yeast are generally harmless, but may be associated with fungal infection
True
pollen grains may mimic helminth larvae
false (helminth eggs)
common findings in giardiasis and other parasitic infections causing malabsorption. it appears to be round with thin circular lining
fat globules
this artifact resembles taenia and other helminth eggs, it has little to no internal structures and lacks 6-hookes oncosphere and embryo wall.
pollen
ladder-like appearance and lacks head or tail region. it may be confused with helminth larvae because of size and shape and resembles a tapeworm and cestode
Vegetable spiral
this is larger in size compared to helminth eggs, polygonal and flattened. its inner is unorganized and contain large vacuole and it resembles the hookworm ova and ancylostoma vaninum
vegetable cells
lacks internal structure and refractile inner structures
Plant hair/fiber
round to oval shape and may be confused with: crytosporidium, cyclospora spp., microsporidia, helminth eggs or protozoan cyst
yeast
protistan parasites of crayfish and resemble helminth ova
corpora parasitica or beaver bodies
round to irregular round- shaped, no internal structures or nucleus, it resembles entamoeba hartmanni and entamoeba nana, common in babies with lactose intolerance
Starch cells/granules
spherical in shape, resemble protozoan cyst and contain large amount that may indicate presence of excess fecal fat
Fat globules
if the size is less than 10um then it is called
starch granules
fat in the intestine that cannot be absorbed kaya sumasama sa stool, seen in patients with giardia duodenalis
steatorrhea
rectangular in shape, normally present especially in high red-meat diet, may be confused with tapeowrm proglottid
Muscle fiber
presence of too much muscle fibers
creatorrhea
seen in improperly prepared wet mounts/smear, irregular in shape
air bubbles
these are formed from the break down products of eosinophil that is seen in stool or sputum, slender crystals with pointed ends as diamond shaped
charcot leyden crystals
with a large, refractile nucleus with distinct cell borders and looks like amebic trophozoites, seen as squamous epithelial cells (anal mucosa) and columnar epithelial cells (intestinal mucosa)
epthelial cells
average size 14um, ratio of nuclear material to cytoplasm is 1:1 and nucleus has 2 to 4 segments with short chromatin bands, granular cytoplasm
PMNs
has an average size of 20um and its ration of nuclear material to cytoplasm is 1:10 to 1:12 (trophozoite) 1:2 to 1:3 (cyst), nucleus is round with central karyosome and peripheral chromatin, uniform, agranular cytoplasm that may contain rbcs
E. histolytica/E.dispar (cysts)
size 12 to 60 um but average 20um ratio of nuclear material to cytoplasm is 1:10 to 1:12
E. histolytica/E. dispar (trophozoite)
