haematology - peripheral blood smears Flashcards
acanthocytes
RBCs show spicules
acanthocytes suggests
liver disease
hyposplenism
abetalipoproteinaemia
basophilic RBC stippling
small dots at the periphery (rRNA)
accelerated erythropoiesis/defective Hb synthesis
basophilic RBC stippling suggests
lead poisoning megaloblastic anaemia myelodysplasia liver disease haemoglobinopathy (eg. thalassaemia)
Burr cells (echinocytes)
sea urchin with regular spicules
Burr cells (echinocytes) suggests
artefacts if sample sat in EDTA prior to film
uraemia
GI bleeding
stomach carcinoma
Heinz bodies
inclusions on very edge of RBCs
due to denatured Hb
Heinz bodies suggests
G6PD deficiency
chronic liver disease
Howell-Jolly bodies
Basophilic (purple) nuclear remnants in RBCs
Howell-Jolly bodies suggests
post-splenectomy
hyposplenism
- SCD, coeliac, congenital, UC/Crohn’s, myeloproliferative disease, amyloid
megaloblastic anaemia
hereditary spherocytosis
Leucoerythroblastic anaemia
presence of nucleated RBCCs and myeloid precursors
Leucoerythroblastic anaemia suggests
marrow infiltration
- myelofibrosis
- malignancy
Pieger Huet Cells
hypo segmented neutrophil with 2 lobes like a dumbell
Pieger Huet Cells suggests
congenital
- lamin B receptor mutation
acquired
- myelogenous leukaemia
- myelodysplastic syndromes
Polychromasia
bluish RBCs due to DNA presence
usually reticulocytes (immature RBCs)