Poorana Priya and Subhashree used the absolute reticulocyte count to help guide the evaluation of a patient with pancytopenia. This can help reduce the frequency of unnecessary bone marrow aspirates. The authors are from Sree Balaji Medical College & Hospital and Bharath University in India.
Patient selection: pancytopenia
Parameters:
(1) absolute reticulocyte count
absolute reticulocyte count in 10^9/L =
= (RBC count in 10^9/L) * (reticulocyte count in percent)
where:
• The RBC count is usually expressed in 10^12/L.
Absolute Reticulocyte Count
Possible Causes
Additional Studies
< 25 * 10^9/L
aplastic anemia
bone marrow aspirate
25 to 50 *10^9/L
nutritional anemia, myelodysplasia
iron, vitamin B12, folate; if normal perform bone marrow aspirate
51 to 99 * 10^9/L
nonspecific
>= 100 * 10^9/L
sepsis, malaria, infiltrative disorder
blood culture, smear review; if negative perform bone marrow aspirate
To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.
