An ICU patient with severe burns has a platelet count of 930,000 on an automated analyzer, but a manual smear shows 115,000. What explains this?
An 80-year-old woman was admitted to the intensive care unit with severe second- and third-degree burns. On laboratory studies, she was noted to have a platelet count of 930,000 per cubic millimeter. Manual analysis of a subsequent peripheral-blood smear identified a platelet count of 115,000 per cubic millimeter. What is the cause for this discrepancy?
What is the most likely diagnosis?
Automated Hematology Analyzer, Burns, Peripheral Smear, Pseudothrombocytosis, Pseudothrombocytosis due to red cell fragments
