Back to Basics: Helpful Hints for Identifying Peripheral Blood Cells

A manual examination of cellular morphology on a stained peripheral blood smear is still an important, and increasingly "lost" skill, useful in the evaluation of patients with hematologic abnormalities. This presentation provides helpful hints to aid the review of blood smears by describing staining properties of various cells and cellular structures, discussing morphologic features that distinguish mature and immature leukocytes, and suggesting strategies to differentiate morphologic look-alikes.

Presented by
Karen A. Brown, MS, MASCP, MLS(ASCP)^CM
Clinical Coordinator, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Department of Pathology, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah; Professor of Pathology, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah