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Blood Sample Collection (view source)
Revision as of 17:51, 21 February 2022
, 17:51, 21 February 2022no edit summary
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== Preparation of Blood Smears ==
Blood smears should be prepared immediately to avoid artefact due to exposure to anticoagulant. Smears prepared from an EDTA sample can be used for a routine differential count but the cell morphology is not ideal. Well prepared fresh smears are particularly important for examining atypical cell morphology.
If parasitaemia is a concern, smears should be made from capillary blood (ear prick) since the concentration of parasites is higher in peripheral blood.
[[File:Nation Wide Laboratories.png|thumb|Nation Wide Labs]]
Well prepared blood smears should have an area where the blood cells are in a monolayer. Place a small drop of blood on the slide towards one end. Draw the spreader slide back to contact the drop and then move it forwards before the blood has spread along the width of the spreader slide. This will prevent the smear extending to the extremities of the slide, when cells can be lost overthe edges. The smear should terminate before the end of the slide (Fig 1).
The area to be examined is the monolayer where 50% or less of cells are in contact.
The differential count is performed, and cell morphology is assessed in the monolayer (Fig 2).
References: Nation Wide Labs
[[File:Nation Wide Laboratories Fig2.png|thumb|Nation Wide Labs]]
[[Category:Pathological Sample Collection]]
[[Category:Pathological Sample Collection]]