Lymphoblast Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Lymphoblast and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Blast Cells Blast cells may be seen in the spinal fluid when cell proliferation in acute leukemia or lymphoma spreads to the central nervous system. The arrows indicate the two blasts in this field. Notice the smooth chromatin pattern in the nucleus and prominent nucleoli in both cells. Notice that an Auer rod is present in the cytoplasm in the blast to the right. The Auer rod indicates that these blasts are myeloblasts rather than lymphoblasts. A segmented neutrophil and several red cells can also be seen. | View Page |
| Which of the following cells is most common in adult bone marrow: | View Page |
| Which of these is arranged from least mature to most mature: | View Page |
| Auer rods are seen in the cytoplasm of: | View Page |
| Auer Rods Auer rods are red staining, needle-like bodies seen in the cytoplasm of myeloblasts, and/or progranulocytes in leukemia.
Auer rods are cytoplasmic inclusions which result from an abnormal fusion of the primary (azurophilic) granules. Single or multiple Auer rods may be seen in the cytoplasm of a cell. If more than one is present, they are frequently close together and may even be overlapping.
Their identification is very important because, if found, they can confirm the presence of myeloblasts indicating the presence of a myeloid (non-lymphoblastic) leukemia. They can also be seen in myeloid blast crisis in chronic granulocytic leukemia. Auer rods are never seen in lymphoblasts. This differentiation is important because the treatment of lymphoblastic and myeloblastic leukemia are different.
Auer Rods always classified as pathological. | View Page |
| Assume that several other lymphocytes similar to the one in the center of the photograph are found on review of the peripheral smear. A work up for leukemia should be recommended. | View Page |
| More about lymphocytes, their impostors and varied faces In this photograph of blood cells from yet another submitted slide, we find cells resembling lymphoblasts with increased nuclear/cytoplasmic ratios and dense, finely meshed nuclear chromatin. In addition, note the extrusion of delicate strands of cytoplasm from the outer cell membranes (blue arrow). These are cells connoting hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Under scanning electron microscopy, the cytoplasmic extensions appear to be either slender microvilli or delicate pseudopods. The most helpful confirmatory finding is the detection of acid phosphatase isoenzymne 5 in the cytoplasm of suspected hairy cells by staining. The enzyme concentrates primarily in golgi bodies and in the nuclear membrane and its staining is not inhibited by the addition of tartrate. Stated in another way, hairy cells on the peripheral smears are detected by their staining positively for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase. Be suspicious of HCL if marrow resists aspiration-a consequence of reticulin fibrosis of the marrow in HCL. | View Page |