Question

1. This patient has a red blood cell count of 4.10 x 10%L, a hematocrit of 29% and a reticulocyte count of 1.2% Show all calculations a. What is the patient's absolute reticulocyte count? b. What is the patient's corrected reticulocyte count? c. What is the patient's reticulocyte production index? d. Is this person's bone marrow exhibiting an adequate response to their anemia? Why or why not? 2. This patient has a red blood cell count of 3.50 x 10%l, a hematocrit of 28% and a reticulocyte count of 2.3% a. What is the patient's absolute reticulocyte count?

Answer 1

1. Patient's absolute reticulocyte count

a. Absolute Reticulocyte Count

ARC (10⁹/L) = RBC count (10¹²/L) X reticulocyte %

RBC count = 4.10 X 10⁶/uL or 4.10 X 10¹²/L

reticulocyte = 1.2%

ARC = 4.10 X 1.2

ARC = 4.92 X 10⁹/L

b. Patient's corrected reticulocyte count

Corrected Reticulocyte count = % Reticulocyte X pt's Hct / Normal Hct

Pt's Hct = 29%

Normal Hct = 45

Corrected reticulocyte Count = 1.2 X 29 / 45

Corrected Reticulocyte Count = 0.773

c. Patient's Reticulocyte production index

Reticulocyte production index = Corrected reticulocyte / Reticulocyte life span

Corrected reticulocyte percentage = 0.77

Reticulocyte life span when hematocrit is 29% = 2.0 days

RPI = 0.77 / 2.0

RPI = 0.38

d. The patient has a low reticulocyte production index which shows inappropriate bone marrow response and may be cause for anemia.