Last updated on 16th Oct 2021 - By Dwayne Michaels

How Abnormal SEGMENTED NEUTROPHILS affects heart?

Bacterial infections, injury, heart attacks, surgery and excessive exercise are some of the common causes of high neutrophil levels.

Neutrophils comprise most of the white blood cells. They make up about 56% of the total white blood cells.

They are short-lived and highly motile, or mobile, as they can enter parts of tissue where other cells/molecules cannot. Neutrophils may be subdivided into segmented neutrophils and banded neutrophils.

Neutrophils are a type of phagocyte and are normally found in the bloodstream. During the beginning phase of inflammation, particularly as a result of bacterial infection, environmental exposure, neutrophils are one of the first responders of inflammatory cells to migrate toward the site of inflammation.

They migrate through the blood vessels and then through interstitial tissue, following chemical signals.

Low neutrophil counts are termed neutropenia. This can be developed at or before birth or it can develop later, as in the case of aplastic anemia or some kinds of leukemia. It can also be a side-effect of medication, most prominently chemotherapy.

Neutropenia makes an individual highly susceptible to infections. It can also be the result of colonization by intracellular neutrophilic parasites. Decreases in neutrophil function have been linked to hyperglycemia.

Dysfunction in the neutrophil biochemical pathway myeloperoxidase as well as reduced degranulation are associated with hyperglycemia. When the level of neutrophil is less than 1500 cells/mm3 of the blood volume, it is considered a low neutrophil level or neutropenia.

Did you know? Not getting enough sleep is linked to Heart attack, Depression, High Blood Pressure, Obesity and Diabetes.

The Absolute neutrophil count is also used in diagnosis and prognosis. ANC is the gold standard for determining severity of neutropenia, and thus neutropenic fever.

Any ANC lesser than 1500 cells / mm3 is considered neutropenia, but lesser than 500 cells / mm3 is considered severe. There is also new research tying ANC to myocardial infarction as an aid in early diagnosis.

For most people conventional reference ranges will be adequate for diagnostic purposes, but a number of pitfalls may make interpretation more difficult in some cases.

Deriving blood count reference ranges is difficult due to the number of factors that may affect blood count parameters and their frequency in the community.

These include iron deficiency, medication and minor infections. In addition there are ethnic differences in some parameters, differences between males and females. Finally, there are differences between different haematology analysers that may affect some blood count parameters.

In view of the above, the approach taken to blood count reference intervals has been different to that seen with many biochemical parameters, where reference intervals usually encompass the 2.5th to 97.5th percentiles. Blood count reference intervals have been derived using a mixture of local and published data.

This means that many of the reference intervals encompass more than 95% of normal individuals and marginal results must be considered in context. Likewise, a normal blood count does not preclude the possibility of early disease states.