Interpreting in house Haemogram Flashcards
Rouleaux
Common in cats and can be assoc with high globulin
Agglutination
Consistent with immune-mediated disease
Significant haemogram findings in iron deficient patient
RBC are hypochromic and microcytic
Numerous platelets/Some are very large
Nucleated RBCs are a sign of?
Regenerative anaemia
Altered bone marrow release
Reduced splenic clearance
Pb toxicity
Suggest reasons for crenations/echinocytes/burr cells (spiky rbc)
Artefactual- Delayed smear/Drying artifact
Renal disease
Lymphoma
Describe Leptocytes and why do they occur
Abnormal looking RBC with an expanded biconcave disk
Occurs during Iron deficiency anaemia, Anaemia of chronic disease or Liver disease and cells are trying to increase surface area
Schistocytes
Fragmented RBCs
Possible reasons for Schistocytes
Microangiopathic diseases (DIC)
Vascular anomalies/congential cardiac defects/heart failure
Glomerulonephritis
Haemangiosarcoma
Myelofibrosis
Anisiocytosis
Cell size variation
Spheroctes
RBC- Loss of central pallor and small
Polychromasia
Multicolored red blood cells (RBCs) in a blood smear test. It’s an indication of red blood cells being released prematurely from bone marrow during formation
Significant haemogram findings in IMHA patient
Platelets – few
Red cells – anisiocytosis (cell size variation), many spheroctes (loss of central pallor and small) (circled in red)
Polychromasia
Hypochromic cells
Howell Jolly bodies
Nuclear remnants- Purple do tin middle of RBC
Normal in cats
Common post splenectomy or when reduced splenic function
Heinz bodies
Oxidative damage
Look like red cells with noses
Easier to see with New Methylene blue stain
Normal in 10% of cat red blood cells
Uncommon as cause of anaemia in dogs
Mycoplasma haemofelis
Multiple dots in RBC
Blood borne parasite
Common in cats
Transmitted by cat bites and possibly fleas
Cause of haemolytic anaemia in cats
Describe how you perform staining with New Methylene Blue.
NMB is a supravital stain so cells have to be stained before they are smeared and air dried. Add one drop of stain to one drop of blood. Make a smear from the mixture
What do blue areas represent when slides are stained with new methylene blue
Remnants of RNA found in immature RBC known as reticulocytes
What is the term used for cells with a few blue spots and for ones that have many blue spots?
Punctate reticulocyte & Aggregate reticulocyte
What is the significance of punctate reticulocyte seen in a slide
Represent previous release and are therefore not counted in a retic count in cats
What is the significance of Aggregate reticulocyte seen in a slide
Represent recently released cells and so represent active regeneration.
In a dog with immune-mediated anaemia, would you expect the reticulocyte count to increase or fall?
Increase – bone marrow should respond to low numbers of red cells and produce new ones
List the reasons why an anaemic dog might have a low reticulocyte count.
Non-regenerative anaemia (bone marrow disease or anaemia of chronic disease)
Acute onset of anaemia – retics take 3-4 days to be present in circulation
How to differentiate between blood smear of dog and cat
cat has no central pallor on RBC and large platelets compared to red cells
What is the significance of PLT clump/aggregate
Will lower automated PLT count as clumps may be counted as RBC
Acanthocytes
Dense, shrunken, and irregularly shaped red blood cells with spikes on the outside.
