Abstract

Background: Analyzing peripheral blood smears routinely has facilitated interpretation of various hematological disorders and has been a major diagnostic tool. The advent of automated hematology cell counter has improved accuracy, precision and safety. There is still a need to depend on manual techniques for primary calibration. This highlights the importance of maintaining the manual technical skills, Thus, the present study was undertaken to compare anemia cases based on peripheral blood smears and cell counter generated Red blood cell (RBC) Indices. Material and Methods: The peripheral blood smears in anemia were evaluated and compared it with cell counter generated red cell indices of 500 anemic patients. The automated analyzer SYSMEX XP-100 was used.Simultaneously, a peripheral smear was prepared according to standard operating procedures and stained by Leishman stain. Results: The cases consisted of normocytic normochromic anemia (14%), microcytic hypochromic anemia (76.2%), macrocytic anemia (0.4%) and dimorphic anemia (13.4%). In normocytic normochromic anemia on peripheral smears 65.7% showed normal curve. In microcytic hypochromic anemia 81.1% showed left shift. In cases of macrocytic anemia 100% histogram showed right shift. Majority of the curves in dimorphic anemia showed broad based curve (46.26%). Discussion: The relationship between histogram patterns and peripheral smear diagnosis in dimorphic anemia posed queries regarding the validity of histocytograms. Hence, peripheral smear examination along with clinical history is an important diagnostic tool while handling the patients with hematological conditions.

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