The significance of reticulocyte examination can be used for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of anemia, observation of disease changes, evaluation of therapeutic efficacy, etc.; as well as reflecting the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow.
Reticulocytes are released from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood to replenish the apoptotic red blood cells in the peripheral blood, but it takes time for them to develop into mature red blood cells. The release of reticulocytes can also be affected when the bone marrow has abnormal hematopoietic function or when there is a lack of certain raw materials needed for hematopoiesis in the body, resulting in abnormal red blood cell synthesis.
Reticulocytes are an important indicator of bone marrow hematopoiesis. Clinical detection of reticulocytes is mainly through the routine blood results showing its count and percentage, the count is the absolute number of reticulocytes, which can reflect the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow, and the percentage mainly reflects the relative changes of reticulocytes and red blood cells, which is conducive to the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of anemia and other diseases.
Therefore, when the reticulocytes are elevated, it suggests that the bone marrow hematopoiesis is vigorous, and the possible diseases are hemolytic anemia, iron deficiency anemia, megaloblastic anemia, etc. When the reticulocytes decrease, it often suggests that the bone marrow hematopoietic function is low or abnormal, and the possible diseases include aplastic anemia, acute leukemia, and so on.