What are ovalocytes in the blood?
Ovalocytes are red blood cells that have an oval shape rather than the usual round doughnut shape. Ovalocytes are more fragile than normal red blood cells. About 1% of ovalocytes are found in a normal complete blood count.
Why is there a high incidence of people with SAO in Southeast asia?
1997; Serjeantson et al. 1997). The high prevalence of SAO is due to the result of natural selection by malaria infection, since SAO provides defense against malaria.
Are Ovalocytes bad?
Ovalocytes are egg-shaped RBCs commonly associated with vitamin B12 or folate deficiencies or megaloblastic anemias. The more severe the deficiency, the more prevalent the ovalocytes. Ovalocytes are frequently destroyed in the spleen, causing anemia.
What is macro Ovalocytosis?
The presence of macro-ovalocytes having an MCV >115 fl, anisocytosis, poikilocytosis and hypersegmented neutrophils suggests a megaloblastic disorder associated with a nutritional deficiency, i.e., vitamin B12 or folate deficiency.
How is Ovalocytosis diagnosis?
Diagnosis is based on the presence on a peripheral blood smear of macro-ovalocytes, some of them stomatocytic with more than one stoma, in the absence of hemolysis. Genetic assays can also be used to identify the mutation in the SLC4A1 gene.
What is hereditary Pyropoikilocytosis?
Hereditary pyropoikilocytosis (HPP) is an autosomal recessive disorder of the red blood cell (RBC) membrane that is clinically related to, and is considered a subtype of, hereditary elliptocytosis (HE). HPP involves a functional defect in spectrin, which is the major cytoskeletal protein of the RBC cell membrane.
What causes Ovalocytes blood?
Iron deficiency anemia, a common type of anemia that is seen when there is insufficient iron in the body, contains elliptocytes (ovalocytes). Megaloblastic anemia caused by a deficiency of either folate or vitamin B-12 contains dacrocytes (teardrop cells), elliptocytes.
