• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Upcoming dvm360 Conferences
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
Veterinary Heroes
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Getting the most out of your hemogram data (Proceedings)

August 1, 2011
Christine Olver, DVM, PhD, DACVP

Why do a CBC?

Why do a CBC?

• Part of minimum database

• Evaluation of hematopoietic status

• Detection of inflammation/inflammation

• Detection of hematopoietic neoplasia

• Monitor therapy

• Detection/estimation of blood loss

Hemogram parameters one by one

• Total nucleated cell count

• Differential count including nucleated erythrocytes

• PCV/HCT

• RBC

• Hb

• MCV

• MCHC

• RDW

• RBC morphology (see below)

• WBC morphology

• Platelet count

Why review the smear?

• Corroborate automated counts

Advertisement

     o Especially important with instruments which do automated differentials

• Evaluate morphologic abnormalities

• Hemotropic parasites/microfilaria

• Platelet clumps

• Presence of abnormal cells

Approach to the blood smear

• Examine grossly

     o Appropriately made smear

     o Anemic?

     o Autoagglutination?

• 10x evaluation

• 50-100x evaluation (oil)

Approach at 10x

• Scan feathered edge

     o Platelet clumps**

     o Microfilaria

     o Abnormal cells- mast cells, neoplastic cells, megakaryocytes

• Estimate leukocyte count

• Find counting area

     o 3.5 10x fields from feathered edge

› Platelet clumps

› Appropriate counting area

› Estimation of leukocyte count

Oil immersion evaluation

• Differential leukocyte count

• Leukocyte morphology

• Evaluation of platelet numbers and morphology

• Evaluation of erythrocyte morphology and presence of polychromasia

Differential leukocyte count

• Lymphocyte v. nRBC

• Leukocyte morphologic abnormalities

• Lymphocytes with azurophilic granules

• Leukocyte morphologic abnormalities

• Erythrocyte morphologic abnormalities-Heinz bodies

• Erythrocyte morphologic abnormalities-acanthocytes

• Erythrocyte morphologic abnormalities-Howell-Jolly bodies

• Erythrocyte morphologic abnormalitieskeratocytes and fragments (schistocytes)

• Erythrocyte morphologic abnormalities-spherocytes

Common artifacts

Approach to blood film evaluation: A question based approach

• Perform a gross evaluation of the microscope slide

     o Is the blood film thick or thin?

     o Is there grossly evident agglutination?

     o Is the feathered edge normal or inverted?

     o Are the nucleated cells distributed evenly throughout the film?

     o Are there accumulated cells on the feathered edge?

• Evaluate the blood film at 100x (low power)

     o Are there platelet clumps, abnormal cells, or parasites on the feathered edge?

     o Is there a normal amount of rouleaux?

     o Are the erythrocytes agglutinated?

     o Is the leukocyte count decreased, normal, or increased?

     o Are there platelet clumps, abnormal cells, or parasites in the body of the film?

• Evaluate the blood film at 500x or 1000x (oil)

     o Are the platelet numbers adequate?

     o Is platelet size normal or increased?

     o Is platelet morphology normal or abnormal?

     o Is erythrocyte size decreased, normal, or increased?

     o Is erythrocyte morphology normal or abnormal?

          • Identify the erythrocyte abnormalities

          • Quantitate the incidence of abnormal morphologic features

     o Is the amount of polychromasia decreased, normal, or increased?

     o Are there any nucleated erythrocytes?

          • Identify and quantitate the nRBCs

          • Is the nRBC maturation sequence orderly or dysynchronous?

          • Do the numbers of nRBCs correlate with the degree of polychromasia?

     o Are there any hemoparasites?

     o Is the number of leukocytes decreased, normal, or increased?

     o Is leukocyte morphology normal or abnormal?

          • Perform a differential count

          • Are there toxic changes in neutrophils?

          • Are there reactive changes in lymphocytes?

          • Is there a left shift in any of the maturation sequence(s)?

          • Is the maturation sequence orderly or dysynchronous?

Related Content:

Medical
Performing and calculating a PCV
Performing and calculating a PCV
Brief overview of acid-base interpretation
Brief overview of acid-base interpretation
Dog owners are not getting proactive OA information from their veterinarians
Dog owners are not getting proactive OA information from their veterinarians

Advertisement

Latest News

Partners for Health Pets and VHMA collaboration publish white paper

Vetstoria releases its Fill Rate platform

What's new with the "Dentistry Lane" across the veterinary profession?

Meet the BlackDVM Network

View More Latest News
Advertisement