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Mixed-deficiency (iron + B 12 or folate) anemia usually presents with high RDW and variable MCV. Recent hemorrhages typically present with high RDW and normal MCV. A false high RDW reading can occur if EDTA anticoagulated blood is used instead of citrated blood. See Pseudothrombocytopenia. By severity, elevated RDW can be classified as follows:
Anisocytosis is a medical term meaning that a patient's red blood cells are of unequal size. This is commonly found in anemia and other blood conditions. False diagnostic flagging may be triggered on a complete blood count by an elevated WBC count, agglutinated RBCs, RBC fragments, giant platelets or platelet clumps due to anisocytosis.
Normal red blood cells are round, flattened disks that are thinner in the middle than at the edges. A poikilocyte is an abnormally-shaped red blood cell. [1] Generally, poikilocytosis can refer to an increase in abnormal red blood cells of any shape, where they make up 10% or more of the total population of red blood cells.
An anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells (RBCs) or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. [2] [3] However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin deficiency. [citation needed]
Macrocytic anemia is a class of anemia characterized by the presence of predominantly larger-than-normal red blood cells (RBC, also known as erythrocytes) accompanied by low numbers of RBC and often also with insufficient hemoglobin content per cell. Macrocytic anemia occurs when – despite the larger cell size – such factors result in ...
Polychromasia is a disorder where there is an abnormally high number of immature red blood cells found in the bloodstream as a result of being prematurely released from the bone marrow during blood formation (poly- refers to many, and -chromasia means color.) These cells are often shades of grayish-blue.
Hereditary elliptocytosis, also known as ovalocytosis, is an inherited blood disorder in which an abnormally large number of the person's red blood cells are elliptical rather than the typical biconcave disc shape. Such morphologically distinctive erythrocytes are sometimes referred to as elliptocytes or ovalocytes.
Microscopic viewing of the red blood cells will reveal marked unequal cell size and abnormal cell shape. Basophilic stippling is marked and target cells are common. The mean cell volume is commonly decreased (i.e., a microcytic anemia), but it may also be normal or even high. The RDW is increased with the red blood cell histogram shifted to the ...