Complete Blood Count
A complete blood count (CBC) is a test panel requested by a doctor or other medical professional that gives information about the cells in a patient's blood. A scientist or lab technician performs the requested testing and provides the requesting medical professional with the results of the CBC. In the past, counting the cells in a patient's blood was performed manually, by viewing a slide prepared with a sample of the patient's blood under a microscope. Today, this process is generally automated by use of an automated analyzer, with only approximately 10-20% of samples now being examined manually. Abnormally high or low counts may indicate the presence of many forms of disease, and hence blood counts are amongst the most commonly performed blood tests in medicine, as they can provide an overview of a patient's general health status.
Read more about this topic: Blood Cell
Famous quotes containing the words complete, blood and/or count:
“We place no particular value upon the possession of a virtue until we detect its complete absence in our adversary.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Where a blood relation sobs, an intimate friend should choke up, a distant acquaintance should sigh, a stranger should merely fumble sympathetically with his handkerchief.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)