New York State Department of Health - Wadsworth Center - Cytohematology Proficiency Testing

Slide 073 [100X]

The arrowed objects on this slide are platelets lying on top of the red blood cells. These may be confused with malarial parasites, but there is no chromatin dot present. The light refracted around the granular platelet is revealed as a slight halo. Forty-two laboratories chose Howell-Jolly bodies as a response. Howell-Jolly bodies are small, round, compact purple staining nuclear fragments, usually no more than 1 micron in diameter, located in the red blood cell. Since a consensus of 90% mandated by CLIA was not obtained, pass credit was given for all responses.

NUMBER OF RESPONSES	% OF RESPONSES	CELL CODE AND TYPE
416	87%	code: 51 Platelet
42	8.8%	code: 35 Howell-Jolly bodies
6	1.3%	code: 52 Giant platelet
6	1.3%	code: 56 Stain precipitate
3	0.6%	code: 37 Pappenheimer bodies
2	0.4%	code: 54 Parasite
1	0.2%	code: 40 Schüffner's granules
1	0.2%	code: 50 Bacteria
1	0.2%	code: 53 Platelet satellitosis

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