Hormones 2016

Full Blood Count - FBC
Mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) - is a calculation of the amount of
oxygen-carrying haemoglobin inside your RBCs. Since macrocytic
RBCs are larger than either normal or microcytic RBCs, they would
also tend to have higher MCH values.
Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) - is a calculation
of the concentration of haemoglobin inside the RBCs. Decreased
MCHC values (hypochromia) are seen in conditions where the
haemoglobin is abnormally diluted inside the red cells, such as in
iron deficiency anaemia, long standing inflammation or thalassaemia.
Increased MCHC values (hyperchromia) are seen in conditions where
the haemoglobin is abnormally concentrated inside the red cells, such
as in hereditary or autoimmune spherocytosis.
Red cell distribution width (RDW) - is a calculation of the variation in the
size of your RBCs. In some anaemias, such as iron deficiency or
pernicious anaemia, the amount of variation (anisocytosis) in RBC size
(along with variation in shape poikilocytosis) causes an increase in the
RDW (labtestsonline, 2016a).
White blood cell
An elevated number of white blood cells is called leucocytosis. This
can result from bacterial infections, inflammation, leukaemia, trauma,
medication, or stress. A WBC count of 11.0–17.0x109/L cells would be
considered mild to moderate leucocytosis.
A decreased WBC count is called leucopenia.
different situations, such as -
It can result from many
• medication, especially chemotherapy, or radiotherapy,
• bone marrow disorder,
• vitamin deficiency, such as B12 or folic acid,
• liver disease,
• an enlarged spleen,
• occasionally in inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis
or SLE,
• some infections,
• diseases of the immune system.
A count of 3.0–4.0x109/L cells would be considered mild leucopenia.
The WBC count tends to be lower in the morning and higher in the late
afternoon. WBC counts change with age with normal newborns and infants
typically have a higher WBC counts than adults. It is not uncommon for
the elderly to fail to develop leucocytosis (a high WBC) as a response to
infection.
There are many drugs that cause both increased and decreased WBC counts
(labtestsonline, 2016f).
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