A laboratory test in which a sample of blood is spread on a glass slide and examined under a microscope to evaluate the number, size, shape, and maturity of blood cells.

• A. Peripheral Blood Smear
• B. Complete Blood Count
• C. Flow Cytometry
• D. Bone Marrow Biopsy

Answer: (A)

This test is a peripheral blood smear. It involves spreading a drop of blood on a glass slide, staining it, and examining it under a microscope to assess the appearance and maturation of circulating blood cells. This method lets you directly observe the size, shape, color, and differential maturation of red cells, white cells, and platelets, and it can reveal abnormal cells such as blasts or fragmented red cells that suggest disease. It’s particularly useful for identifying anemia types, infection-related changes, and platelet disorders, by looking at the morphology rather than relying solely on automated counts.

The other tests don’t fit as well. A complete blood count provides numeric measurements of cells and their indices from an analyzer, but it doesn’t give detailed visual information about cell shape or maturation. Flow cytometry analyzes cells by surface markers to identify and quantify populations, not by examining cell morphology on a slide. A bone marrow biopsy looks at marrow tissue architecture and cellularity, not circulating cells on a slide.