Question

Describe red blood cell count, percentage of reticulocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration as it relates to the diagnosis of anemia.

• Discuss laboratory tests for red blood cells.

Answer 1

Anemia is a medical condition in which deficency of red blood cells occur in the body due to excessive loss of RBCs or by underproduction of RBC or abnormal RBC production they have alteration in the normal structure and shape.

As anemia is the deficency of red blood cells the red blood cell count in anemic patient must be lower than normal level. The normal RBC count in men is men is 4.7 to 6.1 million cells per microliter. When it become less than 4.7 its termed as anemia.

The normal fraction of reticulocytes in the blood depends on the clinical situation but is usually 0.5% to 2.5% in adults and 2% to 6% in infants, when the percentage of reticulocyte higher than normal means anemia. So during anemia the percentage of reticulocytes increases than normal. Reticulocytes are newly produced, relatively immature red blood cells.

Hemoglobin is carried by the red blood cells and they are less than normal in anemia. Normally hemoglobin level less than 12mg/dL is considered as anemia. Hemoglobin is the component which carry the oxygen and transport oxygen to cells and taken carbondioxide from the cells.

Hematocrit is the test to check the volume of red blood cells in total blood volume. It is normally measure in percentage form. Normal range for hematocrit is different between the sexes and is approximately 45% to 52% for men and 37% to 48% for women. The hematocrit range lower than normal means few red blood cells in the blood and it is called anemia.

mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration is the measurement of hemoglobin content in the red blood cells, in case of anemia  mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration become low due to the lower content of hemoglobin in red blood cells.

The mean corpuscular volume is a measure of the average volume of a red blood corpuscle. The value of mean corpuscular volume may be high or low according to the anemia. Mean corpuscular volume high in case of vitamin B12 deficency anemia. The MCV will be lower than normal when red blood cells are too small. This condition is called microcytic anemia.