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Effect of cold agglutinins on red blood cell parameters in a trauma patient: a case report

The presence of cold agglutinins (CAs) in samples intended for complete blood count (CBC) using automated haematology analysers might cause serious preanalytical errors. In this report we describe the case of a 90-year old female patient admitted to the Emergency department following trauma injuries...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Topic, Anita, Milevoj Kopcinovic, Lara, Bronic, Ana, Pavic, Marina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6214689/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30429683
http://dx.doi.org/10.11613/BM.2018.031001
Descripción
Sumario:The presence of cold agglutinins (CAs) in samples intended for complete blood count (CBC) using automated haematology analysers might cause serious preanalytical errors. In this report we describe the case of a 90-year old female patient admitted to the Emergency department following trauma injuries. A blood testing on admission revealed surprisingly low red blood cell count (0.99 x 10(12)/L), low haematocrit (0.102 L/L) which did not correlate with haemoglobin concentration (100 g/L), and high erythrocytes indices (mean corpuscular haemoglobin, 101 pg; mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, 980 g/L). In the second sample, after repeated collection, almost equal results were observed. Blood smear examination under the microscope revealed clusters of erythrocytes. Cold agglutinins presence was suspected and, in order to get valid results, sample was warmed to 37 °C. Correction of CBC was observed. Furthermore, we performed some additional analysis to confirm the presence of CAs in this patient. The aim of this report was to present the laboratory findings in a case of CAs and propose a laboratory procedure for whole blood samples with suspected CAs.