Differential manual test

You may feel a little sting when the needle goes in or out. This usually takes less than five minutes. There is very little risk to having a blood test. You may have slight pain or bruising at the spot where the needle was put in, but most symptoms usually go away quickly. There are many reasons your blood differential test results may be outside the normal range.

A high white blood cell count may indicate an infection, immune disorder, or allergic reaction. A low count may be caused by bone marrow problems, medication reactions, or cancer. But abnormal results don't always indicate a condition needing medical treatment. Factors such as exercise, diet, alcohol level, medicines, and even a woman's menstrual cycle can affect the results. If the results seem abnormal, more specific tests may be ordered to help figure out the cause.

To learn what your results mean, talk to your healthcare provider. Learn more about laboratory tests, reference ranges, and understanding results. Use of certain steroids may increase your white blood cell count, which can lead to an abnormal result in your blood differential test. The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice.

Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health. Blood Differential. What is a blood differential test? There are five different types of white blood cells: Neutrophils are the most common type of white blood cell. Neutrophil Count Absolute. Platelet Estimate. Target Cells. Additional Comments Diff. Basophilic Stippling. Dohle Bodies. Howell Jolley Bodies. Vacuolated PMN. Hematology, Other Cells.

Pappenheimer Bodies. Platelet Clumps. Rouleaux RBC. Smudge Cells. Tear Drop Cells. Sickle Cell. Auer Rods. Bite Cells. Blister or irreg. Dysplastic Changes. Hypergranulation Neutrophils. Hypogranular Platelets. Intercellular Hemoglobin Crystals. Platelet Satellitism. Allow slides to adequately air dry. Dip slide in stain for 10 seconds.

Dip slide in distilled water for 20 seconds or more for darker staining. Perform smear review or differential of white blood cells: Observe slide under low dry for overall impression and general appearance of blood cells.

For smear review, scan at least 10 fields on high dry looking for the following abnormal cells: Immature granulocytes, dysplastic granulocytes, abnormal granulocytes toxic granulation, dohle bodies, hypersegmentation, pelger-huet anomaly , atypical lymphs, immature lymphs, immature monocytes, abnormal platelets, blood parasites. Refer to "Clinical Hematology Atlas" see references for guidance and illustrations of abnormal WBC morphology Stain quality: For slide review and manual diff answer the question in the line "Stain Quality Acceptable?

Answer "Yes" if stained cells appear according to the following: Erythrocytes: pink to red-orange biconcave discoid forms usually Lymphocytes: dark violet nucleus with medium blue cytoplasm Monocytes: lobated nucleus, medium purple with light blue cytoplasm Neutrophils; dark blue to purple nucleus 3 or more lobes , pale pink to almost colorless cytoplasm, red to lavender small granules Eosinophils bright red or reddish orange granules in pale pink cytoplasm, blue to blue-purple nucleus multilobed Basophils: deep purple and violet black granules in pale blue or neutral cytoplasm, dark blue to purple nucleus often bilobed Platelets: clearly demarcated blue violet - purple granules in light blue cytoplasm Perform a platelet estimate: The estimate is made by counting the average number of platelets seen per x oil immersion field in the monolayer of a well-spread smear.

For the estimate, an actual count is not provided but platelets are designated into specific categories: Increased - the platelet count is estimated to be above the reference interval.

Perform RBC morphology evaluation: Whenever possible, a red blood cell abnormality should be described in as much detail as possible. Key Points:. Limitations: lt is of utmost importance that the blood film be well prepared. If clumps of platelets are observed, the EDTA tube should be vortexed for 15 seconds and the slide remade. Note: CBC should also be rerun on vortexed tube to recheck platelet count.

Slides should be stained within four hours of preparation. Precipitate formation may be due to inadequate or incorrect washing, dust, or a dirty slide. Excessive blue stain may be due to overstaining, excessive alkalinity of the distilled water, or inadequate washing. Excessive red stain may be due to understaining or distilled water being too acidic. References: Brown, B.

Carr, J.