Table of Contents
- 1 How do you make a good peripheral blood smear?
- 2 What are the key factors to consider to have a good peripheral blood smear?
- 3 What is the feathered edge of a blood smear?
- 4 Why a good blood smear is necessary for accurate counts?
- 5 What does a peripheral smear tell you?
- 6 How can I make my blood smear thicker?
- 7 What is a peripheral blood smear?
- 8 How to produce a good quality blood smear?
How do you make a good peripheral blood smear?
- Place clean glass slide on a flat surface. Add one small drop of blood to one end.
- Take another clean slide, and holding at an angle of about 45 deg, touch the blood with one end of the slide so the blood runs along the edge of the slide by capillary action.
- Make 2 smears, allow to air dry, and label clearly.
What are the key factors to consider to have a good peripheral blood smear?
Producing a good quality smear requires practice. The blood smear must not be too thin or too thick and the tail of the smear must be smooth. The perfect quality smear is influ- enced by three factors: speed, angle and drop size. thinner the smear will be.
What could affect the quality of a smear?
If the smear is overheated during heat fixing, the cell walls will rupture. Concentration and freshness of reagents may affect the quality of the stain. Washing and drying of the smear between steps should be consistent. Excess water left on the slide will dilute reagents, particularly Gram’s iodine.
What adjustment in technique should be done to yield a good smear?
You must push more slowly to ensure that the blood spreads far enough down the slide. Using a larger drop size can help get enough blood to spread the desired two-thirds to three-fourths of the length of the slide. You can also change the angle of the pusher slide.
What is the feathered edge of a blood smear?
The smear itself should look very smooth with a seamless progression to what is called a “feathered edge”. This is the very end area of the smear and consists of a monolayer of cells. The monolayer will contain cells that are the easiest to identify and are the least distorted.
Why a good blood smear is necessary for accurate counts?
From the clinical standpoint, blood smear examination serves 3 important objectives. First, it serves as a quality control tool in verifying the results generated by the automated analyzers. Second, it allows for identification of abnormal/immature/atypical cells, if present.
How do you prepare a blood smear for staining?
Make the thin smear starting about 1/3 from the nonfrosted end of the slide. Then, place another drop of blood at the clear end and use the edge of the smearing slide to spread the drop out to about a 1 cm circle. The thick smear will take longer to dry.
What is an ideal smear?
A good quality smear has the following features; • A dense body; this should take up about 2/3 of the entire smear and should blend smoothly into. the monolayer area. • A well-developed feathered edge. This edge should have a fine, feathery appearance; if there.
What does a peripheral smear tell you?
A blood smear, also referred to as a peripheral smear for morphology, is an important test for evaluating blood-related problems, such as those in red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.
How can I make my blood smear thicker?
Thick smears consist of a thick layer of dehemoglobinized (lysed) red blood cells (RBCs)….Thick smears
- Place a small drop of blood in the center of the pre-cleaned, labeled slide.
- Using the corner of another slide or an applicator stick, spread the drop in a circular pattern until it is the size of a dime (1.5 cm2).
How do you fix a blood smear slide?
This is achieved by using the correct amount of blood and spreading technique. Allow the thin smears to dry. (They dry much faster than the thick smears, and are less subject to detachment because they will be fixed.) Fix the smears by dipping them in absolute methanol.
What are the three methods of preparing a blood smear?
Four different types of smear preparation methods (conventional method, blood film method, drop and rest method, and water-wash method) were carried out according to the standard reference as described below.
What is a peripheral blood smear?
The examination of the peripheral blood smear is an important basic hematological procedure. Many hematological diagnoses depend upon this procedure and often a definitive diagnosis can be established from the careful examination of the blood film. The smear is stained with Wright’s stain and performed after the complete blood count is run.
How to produce a good quality blood smear?
Producing a good quality smear requires practice. The blood smear must not be too thin or too thick and the tail of the smear must be smooth. The perfect quality smear is influ-enced by three factors: speed, angle and drop size. The faster the spreader slide is moved, the longer and thinner the smear will be. The slower the slide is moved,
What is the best stain for peripheral blood smear?
The peripheral blood smear needs to be stained so that the cytoplasmic and nuclear details of the various cell types are accentuated. Romanowsky stains or derivations thereof such as Wright, Wright-Giemsa and May-Grünwald-Giemsa are universally used in haematology.
Why are blood smear slides important?
Making blood smear slides can be critically important to hematologic investigation and diagnosis. They can be a useful tool to assess everything from white blood cell disorders, such as leukemias, to various types of acquired or congenital anemias, to broader organ issues like liver or kidney disease.