Fragments and forms: Identifying abnormal red cells and what they mean when you find them

Identification and classification of abnormal red cells can provide diagnostically useful information in the pursuit of a diagnosis. Assessment of red cell morphology should be a consideration in both our anaemic and non anaemic sick patients.

Haematological assessment can be divided into three tiers; the automated parameters provided by the analyser; the dot plots provided by the analyser; and lastly morphological assessment either by blood film review or the inVue instrument. These three tiers work in harmony with each other to provide a complete assessment of the haematological picture. This session will cover all three tiers for the assessment of red cell parameters in the context of clinical cases.

• Review of the ProCyte Dx instrument with particular attention to dot plot assessment for red cell component.
• Blood film review for red cell morphological changes
• inVue contribution to red cell morphological assessment to include agglutination, spherocytes and acanthocytes