| WBC - White Blood Cell. These are infection fighters. Measured in cubic milimeter. Normal range is 4 - 12,000 HGB - Substance in the Red Blood Cells (RBC) that carries oxygen. Low counts indicate anemia. Measures in percentage. Normal range is 11.5 - 14.5 HCT - Measurement of Red Blood Cells (RBC) expressed as percentage of whole blood. Low counts indicate leukemia. Normal range is 33 - 43 percent. PLATELET COUNT - Clotting agents in the blood. Measured in cubic millimeter. Normal range is 150 - 500,000 SEGS / BANDS - Bacteria fighters. Measured as a percentage of White Blood Cells. Normal range is 18 - 62 percent of WBC for SEGS and 0-10% for BANDS. BLASTS - These are the leukemia cells. Measured as a percentage of white blood cells. Normal Range is 0. ANC - Absolute Neutrophil Count. this is a calculation of segmented (segs) and banded (bands) white blood cells in the total White Blood Cell WBC count. Segs and Bands are the body's best bacterial infection fighters and are produced in increased numbers when an infection is present. ANC is an indicator of bone marrow production and provides a way to relatively assess a person's infection fighting ability. The formula for ANC is WBC x (% segs + % bands) ANC above 1000 is normal....... ANC from 500 - 999 is fair. The patient should be able to fight most infections....... ANC below 500 is very low. the patient is severely impaired in their infection fighting ability. Hospitalization usually only happens when the ANC is below 500 although it may be necessary above 500. |
| Explanation of Blood Count Terms |