The Greatness of Glass: Importance of Blood Smear Evaluation.

An automated complete blood count (CBC), although quick and relatively effortless, is limited in its diagnostic usefulness because results can be affected by misclassification of cellular and noncellular components and abnormal cellular morphology. Microscopic evaluation of a blood smear allows for quality control of automated CBC results as well as identification of cellular morphology that cannot be detected by automated hematology analyzers, and its importance should not be overlooked, especially in clinically ill patients.