Mean corpuscular hemoglobin

The mean corpuscular hemoglobin, or "mean cell hemoglobin" (MCH), is the average mass of hemoglobin per red blood cell in a sample of blood. It is reported as part of a standard complete blood count. MCH value is diminished in hypochromic anemias.[1]

It is calculated by dividing the total mass of hemoglobin by the number of red blood cells in a volume of blood.

MCH=(Hgb*10)/RBC [2]

A normal value in humans is 27 to 31 picograms/cell.[1] Conversion to SI-units: 1 pg of hemoglobin = 0.06207 femtomol.[3] Normal value converted to SI-units: 1.68 - 1.92 fmol/cell.

Contents

Worked example

Measure Units Conventional units Conversion
Hct 40%
Hb 100 grams/liter 10 grams/deciliter (deci- is 10-1)
RBC 5E+12 cells/liter 5E+12 cells/liter
MCV = Hct / RBC 8E-14 liters/cell 80 femtoliters/cell (femto- is 10-15)
MCH = Hb / RBC 2E-11 grams/cell 20 picograms/cell (pico- is 10-12)
MCHC = MCH / MCV 250 grams/liter 25 grams/deciliter (deci is 10-1)

References

  1. ^ a b "MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: RBC indices". http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003648.htm#Why%20the%20test%20is%20performed. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  2. ^ "Mean Cell Hemoglobin". http://diaglab.vet.cornell.edu/clinpath/modules/hemogram/mch.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  3. ^ Praktikum der Hundeklinik (10 ed.). 2006. p. 102. ISBN 383044141X. 

External links

See also

Medical test: Myeloid blood tests (CPT 85002-85999)
MEP
CFU-GM
Other

M: MYL

cell/phys (coag, heme, immu, gran), csfs

rbmg/mogr/tumr/hist, sysi/epon, btst

drug (B1/2/3+5+6), btst, trns