What are the desirable qualities of a thin blood film?

What are the desirable qualities of a thin blood film?

The film should be 3-4 cm in length. The ideal thickness is such that there is some overlap of R.B.C. throughout most of its length with proper separation and lack of distortion of RBC’s. the end from where the spread had ended is called tail end.

What is the purpose of thin smear?

A thin blood smear is a drop of blood that is spread across a large area of the slide. Thin blood smears helps doctors discover what species of malaria is causing the infection.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using thick blood film in malaria parasites?

Thick blood film More sensitive by 30 times than thin films because: the blood is concentrated allowing a greater volume of blood to be examined and. malaria parasites are concentrated as the RBCs are lysed.

What is the difference between a thick and thin blood film?

A thick blood smear is a drop of blood on a glass slide. A thin blood smear is a drop of blood that is spread across a large area of the slide.

What is the principle of thick blood film?

Thick smears consist of a thick layer of dehemoglobinized (lysed) red blood cells (RBCs). The blood elements (including parasites, if any) are more concentrated (app. 30×) than in an equal area of a thin smear. Thus, thick smears allow a more efficient detection of parasites (increased sensitivity).

How can I make my blood smear thicker?

Thick smears consist of a thick layer of dehemoglobinized (lysed) red blood cells (RBCs)….Thick smears

1. Place a small drop of blood in the center of the pre-cleaned, labeled slide.
2. Using the corner of another slide or an applicator stick, spread the drop in a circular pattern until it is the size of a dime (1.5 cm2).

What are the causes of too thin or too thick blood smears?

Blood smears that are too thin or too thick present a prob- lem. Extremely thin smears (caused by too small a drop, too slow spreading or too low a spreader angle), may result in red blood cells (RBC) that appear as spherocytes and in – creased white blood cells (WBC), such as monocytes and neutrophils, in the tails.

Why is thin film fixed with methanol?

Thin films must be fixed with methanol to preserve all of the details which enable detection and identification of malaria parasites. Thick films are a concentration method. They consist of many layers of RBC stacked on top of each other. Thick films should not be fixed with methanol (or direct heat).

Why is the thin film fixed before staining?

Thin films must be fixed with methanol to preserve all of the details which enable detection and identification of malaria parasites. During the aqueous staining procedure the unfixed RBC lyse, leaving the remains of WBC and any malaria parasites present behind.

What is a blood film?

A blood film —or peripheral blood smear —is a thin layer of blood smeared on a glass microscope slide and then stained in such a way as to allow the various blood cells to be examined microscopically.

What is the principle of thin blood smear?

Principle The Thin Blood smear is prepared by making a drop of well-mixed venous blood, 2mm in diameter at the center of a sterilized microscopic glass slide. Some borders are left around the smear for easy counting and differentiating of the cells.

How to identify parasite species from thin blood film?

The thin blood film should always be examined to identify parasite species definitively. The thin film allows visualization of parasite and red cell morphology, unlike the thick film. Perform an examination at the feathery end or edge of the thin film, as described in procedure 4.3 below.

Why must the blood films be laked before staining?

The blood films must be laked before or during staining to rupture all the RBC so that only WBC, platelets and parasites are visualized. 4. Thick smears allow a more efficient detection of parasites (increased sensitivity 11 times than thin smear).