Morphological analysis of red blood cells by polychromatic interference microscopy of thin films

Red blood cells (RBC) distribution width (RDW) is a promising hematological parameter with broadapplications in clinical practice; in various studies RDWhas been shown to be associated with increased risk of heart failure (HF) in general population. It predicts mortality and other major adverse events in HF patients. In this report new method of RDWmeasurement is presented. It's based on interference color analysis of red blood cells in blood smear and further measurement of its optical thickness. Descriptive statistics of the of the RBC optical thickness distribution in a blood smear were used for RDW estimation in every studied sample. Proposed method is considered to be avoiding type II errors and minimizing the variability of measured RDW. (paper)