Normal & Abnormal Complete Blood Count Levels

A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test which you can have performed in order to check the levels of different kinds of cells in your blood. Such a test includes measurements of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. This test may be performed for quite a number of reasons and can help you make sense of certain symptoms or to diagnose a disease.

What Info Does a CBC Provide?

White blood cell count (WBC) - White blood cells (WBCs) protect our bodies from inner hostility by recognizing viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells, and marking them to be destroyed. A CBC will give you information about the levels of all types of white blood cells. The total white blood cell count should normally be between 4,500-10.000 cells/mcL.

Red blood cell count (RBC) - Red blood cells (RBCs) are used by our bodies to provide oxygen to all of the other cells, and a CBC can tell you how effectively they are working. The standard levels for red blood cells are normally:

• RBC count - 4.7-6.1 million cells/mcL for men, 4.2-5.4 million cells /mcL for women
• Hemoglobin - 13.8-17.2 grams/dL for men, 12.1-15.1 grams/dL for women
• Hematocrit - 40.7-50.3 percent for men, 36.1-44.3 percent for women
• MCHC - 32-36 gm/dL
• MCV (mean corpuscular volume) - 80-95 femtoliter
• MCH - 27-31 pg/cell

Platelet count - Platelets are responsible for creating clots to prevent you from bleeding out when you get injured and are responsible for the formation of scabs. A normal platelet count is between 150,000-400,000/dL.

Atypical Levels and Cancer Treatments
There are a vast number of reasons why your doctor may suggest you get a CBC. When it comes to cancer, a CBC is often taken at the time of diagnosis, and a number of other times during treatment. While chemotherapy interferes with cell division in cancer cells, it can also affect rapidly dividing cells in your bone marrow, unfortunately. That's why atypical blood cell levels during chemotherapy are known as bone marrow suppression. 

A low level of white blood cells during chemo is typically known as chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. Neutrophils are only a single kind of white blood cell, but they are often the ones responsible for predisposing someone to disease when numbers are low due to chemo.

Low red blood cell levels during chemo is known as chemotherapy-induced anemia. It can happen due to loss of blood from surgery or from the effect of chemo on red blood cell production in the bone marrow.

A low level of platelets during chemo is known as chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia. Platelet levels might also be low while treatment is ongoing due to bleeding from surgical intervention.

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Smartphone app to non-invasively detect anaemia

Scientists have developed a smartphone app that can detect anemia accurately and non-invasively.

Instead of a blood test, the app developed by researchers uses photos of a person’s fingernails taken on a smartphone to accurately measure how much hemoglobin is in their blood.
“All other ‘point-of-care’ anaemia detection tools require external equipment, and represent trade-offs between invasiveness, cost, and accuracy,” said the principal investigator of the study.

“This is a stand-alone app whose accuracy is on par with currently available point-of-care tests without the need to draw blood,” he said.

The app could facilitate self-management by patients with chronic anaemia, allowing them to monitor their disease and to identify the times when they need to adjust their therapies or receive transfusions.

This could possibly reduce the side effects or complications of having transfusions too early or too late, said a researcher.

The researchers said that the app should be used for screening, not clinical diagnosis.

The technology could be used by anyone at any time, and could be especially appropriate for pregnant women, women with abnormal menstrual bleeding, or runners/athletes.

Its simplicity means it could be useful in developing countries.

Clinical diagnostic tools have strict accuracy requirements, but researchers think that with additional research, they can eventually achieve the accuracy needed to replace blood-based anaemia testing for clinical diagnosis.

Anaemia is a blood condition that affects two billion people worldwide and can lead to fatigue, paleness and cardiac distress if left untreated.

The current gold standard for anaemia diagnosis is known as a complete blood count (CBC).

The researchers studied fingernail photos and correlated the colour of the fingernail beds with hemoglobin levels measured by CBC in 337 people: some healthy, and others with a variety of anaemia diagnoses.

The algorithm for converting fingernail colour to blood hemoglobin level was developed with 237 of these subjects and then tested on 100.

A single smartphone image can measure hemoglobin level with an accuracy of 2.4 grammes/decilitre with a sensitivity of up to 97 per cent, researchers said.

In the app, the use of fingernail beds, which do not contain melanin, means the test can be valid for people with a variety of skin tones, they said.

The app uses image metadata to correct for background brightness, and can be adapted to phones from multiple manufacturers.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                                                             https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                       FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com