11 September 2016 (Sunday) - Target cells/Stomatocytes

I found this picture on a Facebook group which I follow

Comparing and contrasting is always a useful little way of clarifying things in my mind.

TARGET CELLS – so called because they look like a shooting target with a bullseye. In optical microscopy, these cells appears to have a dark centre (a central hemoglobinzed area) surrounded by a white ring (an area of relative pallor) followed by dark outer second ring containing a band of haemoglobin. Target cells are associated with following conditions.

• ·         Liver disease
• ·         Iron deficiency
• ·         Alpha & beta thalassemia
• ·         Haemoglobin C disease
• ·         Post splenectomy & auto splenectomy.

STOMATOCYTES - characterized by the red cells taking on an abnormal shape resembling a mouth or stoma. There are a number of variants:

• ·         Over hydrated hereditary stomatocytosis
• ·         Dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis.
• ·         Dehydrated with perinatal ascities.
• ·         Cryohydrocytosis
• ·         Blackburn variant
• ·         Familial pseudohyperkalkaemia.