Economy in Cell Counts

Abstract

IT is often necessary in clinical work to determine the relative abundance of two or more species of cells. Examples are counts of the percentage of atypical cells, such as reticulocytes, siderocytes or punctate basophilia, in the blood erythrocytes. In these cases the required result, F, is a fraction. If P and Q are the numbers counted of the two types of cell, F = P/(P + Q). In other estimations, such as the ‘platelet ratio', or the proportion of mega-karyocytes to nucleated white cells in a marrow smear, the required result is a ratio, R = P/Q. F cannot exceed unity, while R may have any numerical value.