After finishing my long working pattern I have some time off now and decided to check on the Haematology Module that is running and found an interesting topic that every medical doctor need to know and it does not depend of the speciality that we have chosen. It is an interesting topic and I wanted to share my knowledge in a simple way so that majority of people who have nothing to do with medicine could understand what I want to share here.
White Blood Cells or WBC |
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White Blood Cells or how we call them in medicine leucocytes are cells that are responsible for defence in our body. When we are healthy our WBC remains in normal range and there is a certain range that is acceptable, of course, depending on some physiological conditions there are some variation, for example:
WBC are produced in bone marrow but there are some called Lymphocytes originate in Thymus therefore called T-cells and other Lymphocytes originate in Lymph nodes called B-cells
The whole series of White Bloods cells are therefore, to fight anything that is strange for our body therefore there are many different subtypes and depending on the change in the counts of those cells we can diagnose what is happening in our body.
I have made a diagram with the white blood cells family and shortly will give an explanation what is what:
Monocytes they are like cleaners, they usually clean up the destroy damaged cells
Eosinophils they are cells that identify and destroy cancer cells, parasites but also they assist in allergic reaction
Basophil the action of these cells many of us who have allergy felt, when we had runny nose, sneezing especially when it is pollen, dust or any other allergens
Lymphocytesthese cells are real Army, like I mentioned before there are T-cells that fights intruders and B-cells that produce antibodies and take part in long term memory of immune system
Neutrophil that are a front line fighters of infection, viruses, fungi and cleaning up debris
When the count of Neutrophils is elevated that is called Neutrophilia, that happens in order to fight infection. Our bone marrow produces neutrophils and releases them into blood stream, often if there is a significant infection then bone marrow release immature cells to fight infection and that is noticeable in the blood film and will let the doctor know that a person has serious condition.
Also we may see increase number of neutrophils if it is needed for healing like fractured bones or burns.
Once the infection of inflammation is settled the number of neutrophils will come back to normal level.
This condition is when the amount of neutrophils are too little. There are many conditions that could lead to them:
The condition is very serious and for the person with neutropenia any even mild infection could be lethal, that is why they will be isolated in separate room and the number of people entering the room is limited in order to avoid any infection contact
I give you very simple example that could happen to everyone and it is easy to recognise.
Young man, 19 y.o. was well during his school and in the afternoon felt generalised abdominal pain, thought that could be just some spoiled food. Few hours later, the pain in abdomen shifted to right lower abdomen and became constant. The young man went home and went to bed was not keen to eat. Over night felt a bit hot and tired, pain became stronger and he could not find a comfortable place, so his fmaily brought him to hospital.
On examination, he had Temperature 38C and pain was now in right lower abdomen even on gentle touch. His bloods show Neutrophilia of >75% and White Blood Count was 20, therefore, the diagnosis of Acute appendicitis was made and the patient had his surgery that confirmed appendicitis. After surgery in 48% his WCC and neutrophils return to normal range.
I would like to invite @suboohi, @iqrarana786 and @sammy1109 to this challenge