Morphology Monday | Case MM260615
The 52 year old patient presented to the emergency department with an unexplained fever. The initial FBC showed a normal white cell count but a closer look at the parameters revealed a deeper issue.
MM260608: Iron deficiency anaemia
When iron stores are depleted, the bone marrow lacks the essential building blocks required to synthesise haemoglobin, leading to a highly characteristic sequential change in red cell morphology.
Morphology Monday | Case MM260608
This week, we are looking at a sample from a 34-year-old female who presented to her GP after experiencing months of progressive fatigue that she initially chalked up to a busy work schedule. However, a recent craving for chewing on large quantities of ice prompted her to seek medical advice.
MM260524: McLeod Syndrome
Under the microscope, the film showed prominent acanthocytes (or spur cells). These are mature red blood cells characterized by multiple, irregularly spaced, thorny or spiky cytoplasmic projections of variable length across the cell membrane.
Morphology Monday | Case MM260524
This week’s case features a 72-year-old female patient whose routine FBC triggered an automatic manual film review due to some highly unusual red cell indices. The patient’s sample is from a neuromuscular clinic.
MM260511: Adult T-cell Leukaemia/Lymphoma (ATLL)
Thank you to everyone who commented on this week’s botanical-themed mystery. While Valentine’s Day may be over, these “flowers” under the microscope provided a textbook look at a aggressive T-cell malignancy.
Morphology Monday | Case MM260511
Valentine’s Day might be behind us, but today’s case is in full bloom this morning. This film is covered in “flowers,” though these aren’t the kind you’d want to receive in a bouquet.
MM260504: Cold agglutinins
When the sample arrived in the lab, it had a “sandy” or gritty appearance inside the EDTA tube. Under the microscope, the red cells weren’t just overlapping; they were physically stuck together in irregular, massive clumps, leaving large empty spaces on the slide.
Morphology Monday | Case MM260504
Last week, I was helping my niece with her English homework. We were working on an exercise where you have to complete the sentence with the missing verb. It inspired me to try a little “fill-in-the-blanks” with you guys.
MM260413: B-ALL
The patient, a newly turned 18-year-old, presented on Christmas Day with a classic triad of acute leukaemia symptoms: malaise (from anaemia), spontaneous bruising (from thrombocytopenia), and deep bone pain. The latter is a frequent finding in paediatric and young adult ALL, caused by the rapid expansion of the bone marrow cavity by malignant lymphoblasts.