Anisocytosis is a medical term meaning that a patient's

red blood cells Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek language, Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''k ...

are of unequal size. This is commonly found in

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

and other blood conditions. False diagnostic flagging may be triggered on a

complete blood count A complete blood count (CBC), also known as a full blood count (FBC), is a set of medical laboratory tests that provide cytometry, information about the cells in a person's blood. The CBC indicates the counts of white blood cells, red blood cell ...

by an elevated WBC count, agglutinated RBCs, RBC fragments,

giant platelet Giant platelet disorders, also known as macrothrombocytopenia, are rare disorders featuring abnormally large platelets, thrombocytopenia and a tendency to bleeding. Giant platelets cannot stick adequately to an injured blood vessel walls, resultin ...

s or platelet clumps. In addition, it is a characteristic feature of bovine blood. The red cell distribution width (RDW) is a measurement of anisocytosis and is calculated as a coefficient of variation of the distribution of RBC volumes divided by the mean corpuscular volume ( MCV).

Types

Anisocytosis is identified by RDW and is classified according to the size of RBC measured by MCV. According to this, it can be divided into *Anisocytosis with

microcytosis Microcytosis or microcythemia is a condition in which red blood cells are unusually small as measured by their mean corpuscular volume. When associated with anemia, it is known as microcytic anemia. Causes Microcytic anemia is not caused by re ...

–

Iron deficiency Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key ...

sickle cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

*Anisocytosis with

macrocytosis Macrocytosis is the enlargement of red blood cells with near-constant hemoglobin concentration, and is defined by a mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of greater than 100 femtolitres (the precise criterion varies between laboratories). The enlarged er ...

–

Folate Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

or vitamin B₁₂ deficiency,

autoimmune hemolytic anemia Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) occurs when antibodies directed against the person's own red blood cells (RBCs) cause them to burst (lyse), leading to an insufficient number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the circulation. The lifetime of ...

, cytotoxic chemotherapy,

chronic liver disease Chronic liver disease in the clinical context is a disease process of the liver that involves a process of progressive destruction and regeneration of the liver parenchyma leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. "Chronic liver disease" refers to disease ...

myelodysplastic syndrome A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may ...

Increased RDW is seen in

iron deficiency anemia Iron-deficiency anemia is anemia caused by a lack of iron. Anemia is defined as a decrease in the number of red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. When onset is slow, symptoms are often vague such as feeling tired, weak, shor ...

and decreased or normal in

thalassemia Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production. Symptoms depend on the type and can vary from none to severe. Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin). Anemia can result ...

major (Cooley's anemia), thalassemia intermedia *Anisocytosis with normal RBC size – Early iron, vit B12 or folate deficiency,

dimorphic anemia Dimorphism or dimorphic may refer to: Science * Dimorphic root systems, plant roots with two distinctive forms for two separate functions * Sexual dimorphism, a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species * Nuclear dimorphi ...

, Sickle cell disease, chronic liver disease, myelodysplastic syndrome

Etymology

From

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: ''an''- without, or negative quality, ''iso''- equal, ''cyt''- cell, -''osis'' condition.

References

External links

Abnormal clinical and laboratory findings for RBCs {{pathology-stub

Types

Etymology

See also

References

External links