| Anisocytosis | |
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| Human red blood cells from a case of anisocytosis. |
Anisocytosis is a medical term meaning that a patient's red blood cells are of unequal size. This is commonly found in anemia and other blood conditions. False diagnostic flagging may be triggered on a complete blood count by an elevated WBC count, agglutinated RBCs, RBC fragments, giant platelets or platelet clumps due to anisocytosis. In addition, it is a characteristic feature of bovine blood.
The red cell distribution width (RDW) is a measurement of anisocytosis[1] and is calculated as a coefficient of variation of the distribution of RBC volumes divided by the mean corpuscular volume (MCV).
- ^ Barbara J. Bain (2006). Blood cells: a practical guide. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 66–. ISBN 978-1-4051-4265-6. Retrieved 10 November 2010.