HEM - Exam 1

Question 1

what does a complete blood count (CDC) measure for? (5)

Answer 1

hemoglobin, hematocrit, WBCs, RBCs, platelets

Question 2

what is hematocrit? what is the normal range?

Answer 2

• ratio of RBC volume to whole blood volume
• 40-50%

Question 3

describe the different RBC indices (4)

Answer 3

• MCV: RBC diameter
• MCH: hemoglobin mass
• MCHC: RBC staining intensity or pallor
• RDW: degree of volume variation (variation of size)

Question 4

what is assessed in RBC morphology (4)?

Answer 4

size, color, shape, cytoplasmic inclusions

Question 5

what are reticulocytes? what do polychromatophilic RBCs indicate?

Answer 5

• young RBCs that contain RNA
• active bone marrow response (to injury)

Question 6

leukopenia vs. leukocytosis

Answer 6

• leukopenia = decreased WBCs
• leukocytosis = increased WBCs

Question 7

what are the different types of WBCs (6)?

Answer 7

• SEG and band neutrophils: pink cytoplasm
• lymphocytes: small cytoplasm
• monocytes: bigger than RBC, big cytoplasm, vacuoles
• eosinophils: pink granules/cytoplasm
• basophils: purple granules

Question 8

thrombocytosis vs. thrombocytopenia

Answer 8

• thrombocytosis = increased platelets
• thrombocytopenia = decreased platelets

Question 9

what is a lot-to-lot comparison?

Answer 9

evaluating the quality of a new reagent or kit by comparing it to a previous lot