LECTURE NOTES hema

LECTURE NOTES
For Medical Laboratory Students
Hematology
Yared Alemu, Alemayehu Atomsa,
Zewdneh Sahlemariam
Jimma University
In collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter Center, the
Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education
2006

Funded under USAID Cooperative Agreement No. 663-A-00-00-0358-00.
Produced in collaboration with the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, The Carter
Center, the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education.
Important Guidelines for Printing and Photocopying
Limited permission is granted free of charge to print or photocopy all pages of this
publication for educational, not-for-profit use by health care workers, students or faculty.
All copies must retain all author credits and copyright notices included in the original
document. Under no circumstances is it permissible to sell or distribute on a commercial
basis, or to claim authorship of, copies of material reproduced from this publication.
©2006 by Yared Alemu, Alemayehu Atomsa, Zewdneh Sahlemariam
All rights reserved. Except as expressly provided above, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission of the author or authors.
This material is intended for educational use only by practicing health care workers or
students and faculty in a health care field.

PREFACE
The lack of sufficient reference materials and uniformity
in course syllabi has always been a problem in higher
institutions in Ethiopia that are engaged in training
health professionals including laboratory technologists.
Hence, the authors hope that this lecture note would be
immensely useful in solving this existing problem at
significant level. The lecture note is intended for use by
laboratory technologist both during their training and in
their work places. There are twenty two chapters each
beginning with specific learning objectives in which
succeeding by a background of the topic in discussion.
There are study questions at the end of each chapter for
the reader to evaluate his understanding of the contents.
In addition, important terms are defined in the glossary
section at the end of the text.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is with sincere gratitude and pleasure that we
acknowledge The Carter Center for the collaboration in
preparation of this lecture note.
Special thanks are due to Mohammed Awole, Serkadis
Debalke, Ibrahim Ali, Misganaw B/sellasie, Abiye
Shume, Shewalem Shifa and Simon G/tsadik for their
assistance in reviewing and critiquing this material.
For her sustained devotion and extra effort, I express my
deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to Zenaye
Hailemariam, who has been most supportive with
scrupulous attention and dedication in helping me
throughout the preparation of this lecture note (Y.A).

Table of Contents
.....................................................................Preface i
....................................................Acknowledgement ii
......................................................Tab le of C ont en ts ii i
...............................................................Introduction v
.....................................................................1. Blood 1
....................................................2. Blood Collection 42
......................................................3. Anticoagulants 61
...............................4. Preparation of Blood Smears 67
.....................................5. Staining of Blood Smears 77
....................................................6. Hemocytometry 89
.................................7. Differential Leucocyte Count 122
................................................8. Reticulocyte Count 136
...........................................................9. Hemoglobin 146
...........................................10. Packed Cell Volume 176
..................................................11. Red Cell Indices 188
.........................12. Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate 197