Nursing question

Haematological Malignancies

Case Study Exercise

The case:

A 55 year old male visited his GP complaining of malaise, night sweats, weight loss and abdominal discomfort.

Due to these symptoms, the doctor requested some laboratory tests including a full blood count.

The results of the full blood count were as follows:

TOTAL WHITE CELL COUNT: 69.7 x 109/L

NEUTROPHILS: 48.0 x 109/L

LYMPHOCYTES: 7.5 x 109/L

MONOCYTES: 7.2 x 109/L

EOSINOPHILS: 1.0 x 109/L

BASOPHILS: 6.0 x 109/L

PLATELETS: 590 x 109/L

HAEMOGLOBIN: 9.8 X g/dl

These results prompted the Biomedical Scientist to look at a blood film. Inspection of the film revealed the presence of immature white blood cells (mainly myelocytes and metamyelocytes) in addition to mature neutrophils. There was also a raised basophil count, raised platelet count and the red blood cells were normocytic and normochromic.

Written report:

You must write a CONCISE 1500 word report on this case.

Include in your account the following:

· A brief introduction

· A likely diagnosis (including reasons why you have come to this conclusion)

· A discussion of the patient’s symptoms

· A discussion of key features of the routine haematology results

· A discussion of further laboratory tests that were performed to confirm the diagnosis (make sure that you answer is in keeping with the literature)

· Explain what happened next to the patient in terms of treatment and eventual outcome in keeping with what you would expect for a patient with this disease.

Points to remember:

1. Do not go more than 10% over or under the 1500 word limit (excluding references).

2. Use illustrations and diagrams where necessary (make sure that you relate them to the text).

3. You should be concise and address key points rather than writing too much about one particular aspect of what you have been asked to do.

4. It is important that your work is well referenced.

5. Do NOT plagiarise.