Question

Case Study 3 Clinical Hematology BMS 420 This 18 year-old African-American female was in for her first prenatal visit. She was 8 weeks pregnant. She had been in good health and gave no significant family history. The routine CBC was flagged and reflexed to manual smear differential. The medical laboratory scientist reported moderate increase of target cells, polychromasia, and rectangular crystals on her smear. Here below is part of her CBC data. WBC: 11.1 x 10'/microL RBC: 3.82 x 10 º/microL Hgh: 10.9 g/dL HCT: 32.6% 1 Calculate her RBS.indices, Describe her anemic condition.

Answer 1

Answer :

A) RBC indices include mean cell volume (MCV ), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH ) and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC )

1) MCV =[Haematocrit (%) ÷ RBC (million /microlitre) ] ×10=[32.6 ÷ 3.82]× 10= 85.34 fL (normal range =80-96 fL)

2) MCHC=[Hb (gm/dL ) ÷Haematocrit (%) ] ×100=[10.9 ÷ 32.6] ×100= 33.43 gm/dL (normal range =32-36 gm/dL )

3) MCH=[Hb(gm/dL ) ÷ RBC (million /microlitre ] ×10=[10.9÷3.82]×10=28.53 pg

B) Anemia in pregnancy is defined as Hb < 11 gm/dL . Since she has Hb 10.9 gm /dL , she has mild anemia of normocytic and normochromic type with polychromasia, target cell and crystal on her smear. Since she is African American chances of haemoglobinopathy especially HbC can be suspected.