Our Practitioner Advisory Board weighs in on this critical topic.

I've proudly promoted wellness testing because what is the cost of not testing?

In the article "Three-minute peripheral blood film evaluation: The leukon" in the December 2004 issue, the last sentence in the section titled "Is there a left shift present?" on page 1036 should read, "If the narrowest portion [of the nucleus] is greater than one-third of the widest portion, the cell is classified as a band cell or an immature neutrophil."

Evaluating a peripheral blood film validates cell counts performed by hematology analyzers, plus it offers valuable diagnostic information relayed by erythrocytes, platelets, and leukocytes.

A peripheral blood film evaluation should be part of all complete blood counts, regardless of whether hematology is performed in-house or at a reference laboratory.

Many veterinarians and technicians do not routinely evaluate blood films microscopically, largely because they lack confidence in either preparing a well-made blood film or in being able to accurately identify important abnormalities.

In this article, we again use a question-based format to guide you in evaluating the leukon by assessing white blood cell numbers and morphology.