title: Artifacts that may be present on a blood film.
abstract: Many artifacts or pseudoartifacts may be noted during the examination of a blood film. Artifactual results also may be generated by automated hematology analyzers, which in turn may be investigated by blood film examination. Some artifacts are misdiagnosed, and this in turn leads to inappropriate investigations or treatment. An awareness of the spectrum of spurious or artifactual results may help to prevent such an unfortunate occurrence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada. dbak@unixg.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Bakul I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Dalal
authors.forename: Malcolm L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Brigden
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans