4 January 2022 (Tuesday) - NEQAS 2108 BF

Two months ago I did the morphology NEQAS 2108 BF. The results came in today:

2108 BF1

 I wrote “I can't see anything amiss...  I shall look forward to the answer to see what I missed”.
It would seem that I missed nothing. It was a “normal” blood film.

 

2108 BF2 

 

I commented (top 5)                 Top Consensus Features

Neutropenia                             thrombocytopenia

Blast cells                                Blast cells       

Myelocytes                               Neutropenia

Thrombocytopenia                   Nucleated red cells

Tear drop cells                         Promyelocytes

I was a tad stumped here. I plumped for a case of MDS but whatever it was would have needed an urgent referral. It turned out sixty per cent of participants didn’t realise it was an obscure form of APML, but is it fair to judge us on a diagnosis that we don’t make?

A colleague did tell me he saw Auer rods in the blood film, I wasn't convinced but apparently they were there…