26 November 2020 (Thursday) - Platelet Clumps

Here’s something I saw down my microscope today. Falsely reduced platelet counts due to platelet clumping aren’t something  new. Here’s a case study from the nice people at Lablogatory about the matter.

  Here’s a possible explanation for what is going on.  

Platelet clumping isn’t exclusive to humans - other mammals have it too as the vets will agree.

So – what do we do  -  perform the platelet count on a citrated (different anticoagulant) sample…Interestingly it has been my (admittedly anecdotal) experience that in a not insignificant amount of cases this doesn’t actually change the numerical result and that clumps can be seen in the citrated blood film. I can’t seem to find much literature about that though…

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