Talk:Hematocrit

figure unclear

The figure at the beginning of this article is unclear. What part of the two items in the tubes is the hematocrit? Also, there should be some kind of legend or explanation under the figure... --128.227.62.13 (talk) 12:40, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

normal and dangerous ranges

In addition to the gender average we need information on how much normal variation and pathological variations are. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.194.124.25 (talk) 23:24, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I

i love hematocrit.I am changing the the following sentence in the introduction: "The hematocrit is not usually considered an important consideration when looking at a person's full blood count results as most people are more concerned with the hemoglobin concentration and mean cell volume." Since HCT is one of the indicators listed nearly always in CBC results and noted by physicians carefully as a measure of ongoing disease or therapeutic effectiveness. HCT is in fact a very important consideration of a person's health. I have changed this sentence to reflect this fact. Xyp 03:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

==

The length of the tube containing blood cells, divided by the length containing cells or plasma gives the PCV. This sentence doesn't make sense.--Gbleem 03:11, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

The illustration shows the packed cells in brown (at the "bottom" of the tube) and the plasma in yellow (on "top"). The Packed Cell Volume is the length of the brown part divided by the sum of the lengths of brown part and the yellow part. - Nunh-huh 05:09, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

transfusion arm

If you have more red blood cells because you drew from the arm with the packed blood cells then wouldn't both the hematocrit and the hemoglobin level go up together? --Gbleem 04:35, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes. They will both be abnormally high. Similarly, both might be abnormally low if the IV were infusing plasma rather than PRBC. - Nunh-huh 05:09, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Or maybe the hemoglobin comes from the arterial draw??--Gbleem 04:59, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

No arteries are involved, just veins. - Nunh-huh 05:09, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

I suspect the article would be clearer if it didn't switch back and forth between discussing hemoglobin and hematocrit. Do you think that's right? - Nunh-huh 05:09, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Hematocrit & Dehydration

I removed this sentence: "However, the hematocrit gives an indication of how concentrated the red cells are in the blood - this gives an indirect impression of whether the patient is dehydrated and also how relevant the measured hemoglobin level is."

Hematocrit can not give an indication of how hydrated/dehydrated someone is if you don't have a previous reference guide. If you're trying to measure someone's hematocrit overhydration/dehydration can confound results by giving a falsely high/low reading. Likewise red blood cell count and haemaglobin are also altered so comparing hematocrit to hemoglobin doesn't give an idication of hydration as both results are altered by the same amount. In the example given the haemoglobin and hematocrit would rise by the same multiple, thus giving no indication that there was anything wrong other than the fact that it was abnormally high. Maybe it should be removed?

There are no good indications of hydration if you're only taking one discrete sample.

Serrin 07:36, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

pic

erm, someone needs to fix the spelling of erythrocytes in the pic.

Hematocrit & Doping

As I understand it, Hematocrit is one of the telltales that an athlete is using some types of performance enhancing pharmecuticals, or engaging in blood doping. Should this be referenced? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Billjank (talk • contribs) 03:57, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Only if the hematocrit is over a certain percentage - 50% for example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.70.151.190 (talk) 16:37, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Arterial / Venous

I assume the hematocrit must be higher in venous blood than arterial due to fluid leaking into tissues to be drained by the lymphatic system. Is this so, and if it is, shouldn't the article say so? HairyDan (talk) 22:33, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Centrifugation

Small and insignificant detail but the RPM is not a standard unit, it is dependeble on the dimensions of the rotor of the centrifuge. The standard unit would be g —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.167.195.60 (talk) 11:49, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Scleroderma Renal Crisis

When I had SRC, my hematocrit dropped below 30. It's not mentioned on the Chronic Kidney Disease page, so, maybe it should be mentioned? JoshNarins (talk) 23:13, 21 April 2012 (UTC)