21 March 2022 (Monday) - Vitamin B12 & Folate

Here’s an interesting case.

P1234567  Smiff Filip  1-4-80 

 Date\Time     Specimen          SB12        SFOL

 261121 1037 H,21.7367527.H       210         7.8 (+/-)

 210122 1044 H,22.7416214.F       192         6.2 ( L )

 210322 12=> R,22.3156450.X      <111 ( L )  53.2

The physiological interactions between vitamin B12 and folic acid are rather complicated. There’s a good review of the subject here, but this case sums up the matter rather well, doesn’t it?

A patient who was clearly folate deficient was given treatment to correct the deficiency. And the metabolic processes which corrected that deficiency depleted the body’s stores of vitamin B12.

Hardly earth-shattering stuff, but a nice little example which I thought I might share

 

16 March 2022 (Wednesday) - BTLP-TACT Excercise

Time for another BTLP-TACT exercise…. 

I was presented with one case – an eighty-nine year-old chap who would be going to the theatre tomorrow and who would require six units of blood.
He grouped as O Rh(D) Positive with a negative antibody screen.

I selected six units of O Rh(D) Positive and exited the scenario fully expecting to get the red light. This was too straightforward. What had I missed? 

I got the green light, which was something of a relief.

15 March 2022 (Tuesday) - Hairy Cell Leukaemia

The nice people at Lablogatory sent me a case study on hairy cell leukaemia today.
You can read it by clicking here.