PA H1 | Hematopoiesis & Blood Specimen Basics — Practice Quiz

A 28-year-old male with severe aplastic anaemia undergoes a bone marrow transplant. The donor haematopoietic stem cells engraft and begin to reconstitute blood cell production. Which of the following best describes the property of haematopoietic stem cells that makes this transplant effective?

Erythropoietin (EPO) is released from the kidney when tissue oxygen delivery falls. Which cells in the erythroid lineage express the highest density of EPO receptors and are therefore the primary target of EPO action?

A 9-year-old boy with beta-thalassaemia major presents to a haematology clinic in Chennai with progressive abdominal distension. Examination reveals massive splenomegaly and a liver palpable 6 cm below the costal margin. His haemoglobin is 5.2 g/dL despite monthly transfusions. A bone marrow trephine shows near-total replacement of fat spaces by erythroid hyperplasia. Which of the following best explains the organomegaly in this child?

A 55-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department with an acute ischaemic stroke. The neurologist orders an urgent coagulation screen. The phlebotomist draws blood into a sodium citrate (blue-top) tube but fills it only to the 60% mark instead of the required level. The sample reaches the laboratory. Which of the following is the most likely error that will be reported?

A phlebotomist is collecting multiple tubes from a patient with suspected diabetes mellitus for fasting glucose, HbA1c, and a complete blood count. She draws the tubes in the following order: EDTA (purple) → fluoride-oxalate (grey) → plain red top (no additive). The laboratory rejects the glucose result and requests a recollection. Which preanalytical factor most likely caused the error?

A third-year MBBS student is helping in a rural health camp in Rajasthan. She is asked to collect blood for a CBC and a coagulation screen from the same patient using a multi-sample needle. She has only two tubes available: one purple-top (EDTA) and one green-top (lithium heparin). She decides to use the green tube for the CBC. Which of the following consequences is most likely when the haematology analyser processes this sample?

A 30-year-old woman presents to a haematology outpatient clinic with fatigue and pallor. Her CBC shows: Hb 7.8 g/dL, MCV 72 fL, MCH 22 pg, WBC 6.2 × 10⁹/L (normal differential), platelets 420 × 10⁹/L. Her reticulocyte count is 1.8% (normal). Serum ferritin is 4 ng/mL. Her peripheral smear shows hypochromic microcytic red cells with pencil cells. The laboratory flags that the sample was drawn into a lithium heparin tube and run on the haematology analyser. Which aspect of this result is LEAST likely to be affected by the wrong tube?

During a medicolegal autopsy at a government medical college in Hyderabad, a forensic pathologist collects a femoral vein blood sample. He places it in a fluoride-oxalate (grey-top) tube for alcohol estimation. A junior resident asks why this specific tube was chosen over a plain red-top tube. Which explanation is most accurate?