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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes An Abnormal Platelet Count?

So I do some lab work where I work. Recently I had some results come back for coagulation that were out of wack and one was clotted. One had wayy to slow of clot .. the next really fast and the last was fully clotted. The nurse was using an 18 gauge needle and a port... then the platelet count from hematology was off too. I got new hematology results a d they were normal. What could have gone wrong? If hematology gets too cold can it mess up the platelet count???a butterfly is usually used...but in this case we needed a port.
Thu, 29 May 2014
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Radiologist,  's  Response
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.

If proper techniques are not followed while processing the blood for platelet count, there ca be clumping of platelets and an abnormal erratic reading. The counts are done using automatic immunofluorescent techniques and if there is clumping of platelets, there is every chance of getting an abnormal report. It is for this reason that every low platelet count detected by any hematology analyzer must be verified manually by a blood film microscopic examination.
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What Causes An Abnormal Platelet Count?

Hi, Thanks for writing in. If proper techniques are not followed while processing the blood for platelet count, there ca be clumping of platelets and an abnormal erratic reading. The counts are done using automatic immunofluorescent techniques and if there is clumping of platelets, there is every chance of getting an abnormal report. It is for this reason that every low platelet count detected by any hematology analyzer must be verified manually by a blood film microscopic examination.