Here’s a long term: leukoerythroblastotic reaction. Despite its length, it’s a pretty good term, because it describes a reactive condition in which you see young red cells (erythroblasts) and young white cells (leuko-) out in the peripheral blood.
When you look at a blood smear, it’s best to have a plan, and it’s best to try to follow it each time.
There are some Pathology Student posts that readers seem to turn to over and over.
Q. I’m not sure if I can identify leukocytes correctly. Could you give me some tips? Thanks very much.
Finally…our new coag study guide (Clot or Bleed: A Painless Guide for People Who Hate Coag) is available.
Two happy things today: a nice discount (until midnight tonight), and a free book preview.
Q. If you have a blood smear that shows a lymphocytosis, and all the lymphocytes look pretty mature, how do you know whether it’s chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or just a plain old benign lymphocytosis?
The term “left shift” means that a particular population of cells is “shifted” towards more immature precursors (meaning that there are more immature precursors present than you would normally see).
