Blood count is a routine test consisting of several individual parameters, allowing the evaluation of the various cellular blood components.
Είναι η πιο διαδεδομένη εξέταση αίματος και χρησιμοποιείται σε εξετάσεις ρουτίνας προσυμπτωματικού ελέγχου, στην αξιολόγηση νόσων και λοιμώξεων ενώ αποτελεί ένα ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμο εργαλείο για την παρακολούθηση πιθανών παρενεργειών από την οξεία ή μακροχρόνια χρήση φαρμακευτικής αγωγής.
Περιλαμβάνει την καταμέτρηση και τη μορφολογική εξέταση των ερυθρών και των λευκών αιμοσφαιρίων, του αριθμού των αιμοπεταλίων, του αιματοκρίτη και της αιμοσφαιρίνης.

Reticulocytes are formed in the bone marrow, they reach maturity after 1 day in the bloodstream and are an indicator of bone marrow function, therefore they are used to assess bone marrow activity, anemia and other haematological conditions.
- Sickle Cell Test: it is used as an initial test to check for sickle cell anemia and the presence of pathological hemoglobin S.
- B-Meditteranean Anemia (B-Thalassemia): it manifests in the early years of a child’s life as severe anemia. The disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means that in order for a person to have it, s/he must have inherited two mutant alleles of the b-globin gene (one from the father and one from his mother).
The findings from the evaluation of blood smear usually in combination with the patient’s clinical picture signify the presence of an underlying disease, inform us about its severity and indicate the need for further diagnostic tests.
- The ABO blood group is a person’s blood type as results from genetic information. The four most common phenotypes are: A, B, AB and O.
- The type or group of Rhesus (Rh) refers to whether the Rh antigen is present (Rh positive) or absent (Rh negative) on the surface of a person’s red blood cells. In pregnancy, antibodies from the Rh-negative mother can cause hemolysis in the fetal red blood cells which has inherited the Rh-positive antigen from the father (erythroblastosis fetalis, or hemolytic disease of the newborn).
- This test determines the specific ABO and Rh phenotype by determining which of the red blood cell antigens A and B are present as well as whether the Rh0 (D) antigen is present.
The indirect Coombs reaction is used to detect pathological antibodies in the patient's serum, which may react negatively against the transfused red blood cells.