Platelet interference in automated reticulocyte counting

Retired professor from Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Ufes), Espírito Santo, Brazil; Faculdade Multivix, Espírito Santo, Brazil

Medicine has gone through an admirable improvement due to the arsenal of resources offered by scientific advancement, what allows for prolongation of life and the enhancement of its quality. Among these resources, laboratory tests stand out, exerting considerable impact on medical decisions. New tests have continuously been made available, many times replacing older ones, and the enhancement of many traditional tests make them still invaluable for diagnosis and the treatment of numerous diseases.

A long-established procedure remains irreplaceable in medical practice: reticulocyte quantification. At an intermediate stage between orthochromatic erythroblasts and erythrocytes, reticulocytes are still important indicators of bone marrow erythropoietic activity, highlighting not only possible blood loss or hemolysis (or even response to treatment), but also the failure present in medullary hypoplasia and other conditions⁽¹⁾. Formerly restrict to suspect cases of non-evident chronic bleeding and hemolytic processes only suspected, the quantification of these components became part of the routine demand among other additional tests. That was because of the urgent need to use this resource for decisions in both medical care and occupational medicine, on account of myelotoxicity risks from activities in the areas of petrochemistry and steel industry. Read More…