A CBC is processed on an analyzer and flags WBC 3.0 x 10^12/L, RBC 3.1 x 10^12/L, PLT 18 x 10^9/L, Hgb 95 g/L, Hct 0.290. The patient sample collected two days ago shows a fibrin clot on manual inspection. What is the next step?

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Multiple Choice

A CBC is processed on an analyzer and flags WBC 3.0 x 10^12/L, RBC 3.1 x 10^12/L, PLT 18 x 10^9/L, Hgb 95 g/L, Hct 0.290. The patient sample collected two days ago shows a fibrin clot on manual inspection. What is the next step?

A CBC cannot be trusted when the specimen has a fibrin clot. The clot disrupts how cells are distributed and read by the analyzer, making platelet counts unreliable (often falsely low from platelet clumping) and can also affect WBC and red cell measurements. When a clot is seen, especially in a sample that’s two days old, the proper action is to reject the specimen and request an immediate redraw; do not report results from the clotted tube. Simply re-running after removing the clot won’t restore accuracy, and proceeding with current results would risk reporting invalid data.

A CBC cannot be trusted when the specimen has a fibrin clot. The clot disrupts how cells are distributed and read by the analyzer, making platelet counts unreliable (often falsely low from platelet clumping) and can also affect WBC and red cell measurements. When a clot is seen, especially in a sample that’s two days old, the proper action is to reject the specimen and request an immediate redraw; do not report results from the clotted tube. Simply re-running after removing the clot won’t restore accuracy, and proceeding with current results would risk reporting invalid data.

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