ABSTRACT
Introduction: Red blood cell (RBC) indices and histogramobtained from automated analyzer give an idea aboutmorphological changes in anaemia. Along with the peripheralsmear, they can be used to interpret the cause of anaemia.The aim of the present study was to correlate typing ofanaemia based on RBC indices and histograms obtained fromautomated analyzer with peripheral smear examination and togive a better approach in the diagnosis of anaemia and analysetheir limitations.Material and methods: Blood samples collected from1575 anaemic patients, over a period of one year, in theHematology laboratory, were typed for anaemia, first byparameters obtained by haematology analyzer (RBC indiceswith red cell distribution width) and then by peripheral bloodsmear findings. The correlation between the diagnosis madeby peripheral smear versus RBC indices and histogram wereanalysed to find out the significance of the mean difference invarious parameters.Results: Microcytic hypochromic anaemia (50.86%) wasthe most common followed by normocytic normochromic(25.14%), macrocytic (2.29%), dimorphic (15.43%) andhaemolytic anaemia (6.29%) as diagnosed on peripheralsmear examination. Analysis by RBC indices showed 59.43%,32%, 3.43%, 2.86% and 2.29% of microcytic hypochromic,normocytic normochromic, macrocytic, dimorphic andhaemolytic anaemia respectively. Out of 801 (50.86%) casesof microcytic hypochromic anaemia on smear, 513(32.5%)revealed left shift while 288 (18.3%) showed broad-basedcurve on the histogram. In normocytic normochromic anaemia,anormal bell-shaped curve was seen in 378 cases (25%)while 18 cases (1.1%) showed the broad curve. Histogramsin macrocytic anaemia show a right shift in 27 cases (1.7%)while 9 cases (0.6%) showed left shift. In dimorphic anaemia,the histogram was bimodal only in 2.9% of cases whereas amajority (11.4%) showed broad-base histogram.Conclusion: Histogram and RBC indices give valuableinformation, but peripheral smear examination remains theimportant diagnostic tool in haematological disorders.