Reticulocyte count
(RTIC)

Sample type:

Specimen Whole blood(Lavender-top (EDTA) tube).

Use:

1. Assessing erythropoietic bone marrow activity in anemia and other hematologic conditions

2. Diagnose specific types of anemia. Anemia is a condition in which your blood has a lower-than-normal amount of red blood cells. There are several different forms and causes of anemia.

3. See if treatment for anemia is working

4. See if bone marrow is producing the right amount of blood cells

5. Check bone marrow function after chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant

Interfering factors:

• Taking certain medicines. Medicines that affect the results include ones used for Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, fevers, malaria, and cancer chemotherapy.

• Getting radiation therapy.

• Taking sulfonamide antibiotics (such as Septra).

• Being pregnant.

• Having a recent blood transfusion.

Precautions:

1. Avoid counting insufficient numbers of RBCs and reticulocytes.

2. RBC inclusions may be mistaken as reticulocytes like Pappenheimer bodies, basophilic stippling, or Heinz bodies.

3. Howell-jolly bodies may be mistaken as reticulocytes. Even the machine can count these as reticulocytes and give a false count.

4. Pregnancy may cause an increase in the reticulocyte count.

Pre analytical errors:

1) Not taking the patient’s complete data such as age, gender, and if he is taking therapeutic drugs

2) Hemolyzed, clotted, and insufficient samples

3) Inappropriate blood to anticoagulant ratio

Corrective action:

1) Communicate with the patient and identify his age and write it in the test report

2) Request for another sample

3) Fill the EDTA tube by blood at the marker on the tube

Post analytical errors:

1) Sharing the results of patients or writing the result incorrectly.

2) write a wrong Patient name in patient report.

Corrective action:

1) communicate with patient then delivered him the correct results and we apologize for this mistake.

2) the report is not delivered to the patient and the error must be discovered.

Reference range:

Adults: 0.5%–1.5% of total erythrocytes (women may be slightly higher)

Newborns: 3%–6% of total erythrocytes