These symptoms signal polycythemia, a condition where the body produces too many red blood cells. This means blood is thicker and clots more easily. Doctors cannot cure polycythemia, so treatment tends to focus on symptom management. The main goal is to avoid stroke and deep vein thrombosis DVT , which is a blood clot usually occurring in a deep vein in the leg.
In some cases, dehydration causes polycythemia. When a person does not drink enough, their plasma levels drop, and this increases the proportion of red blood cells in their blood volume. A person can lower their red blood cell count by rehydrating.
Some conditions that can cause high hematocrit levels include :. When the lungs cannot absorb oxygen effectively and oxygen levels drop, the body compensates by making more red blood cells. One common pulmonary disease causing this is COPD. Learn more about COPD here. To try and overcome the oxygen deficit the body produces more red blood cells.
Learn more about heart disease here. Sometimes kidney cancer cells create more erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is a hormone that tells the bone marrow to create more red blood cells.
Learn more about kidney cancer here. The JAK2 gene , which controls the number of blood cells made in the bone marrow, can affect certain conditions. When someone has a mutated JAK2 gene, the body could make a protein that signals the bone marrow to create more red blood cells than it needs. Learn more about genetic disorders here. A person should speak with a doctor if they are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above that could be a sign of high or low hematocrit levels, including fatigue, weakness, vision problems, and dizziness.
These symptoms can also indicate an underlying condition, so it is important that a person contact a doctor in a timely manner to prevent future complications. If a person is receiving chemotherapy treatment, a doctor should perform regular hematocrit tests to monitor bone marrow health.
A low hematocrit level means the are too few red blood cells in the body. In these cases, a person may experience symptoms that signal anemia. Common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, and low energy. The macrohematocrit method carries the risk of measuring trapped plasma as part of the red blood cell layer, which erroneously elevates the hematocrit percentage. A newer method is the microhematocrit method, which uses a capillary tube instead of a narrow glass tube and requires a smaller quantity of blood and less time.
The microhematocrit method traps less plasma because the diameter of the capillary tube is smaller than the Wintrobe hematocrit tube. So the percentage of hematocrit is more accurate in the microhematocrit method than in the macrohematocrit method. Both procedures require the technician to manually measure the length of the layers. The technician calculates hematocrit as the length of the packed red blood cell layer divided by the length of total cells and plasma.
This ratio is then multiplied by to give a certain percentage. Today, these two methods have been largely succeeded by an automated hematology analyzer where the hematocrit test is obtained as part of a complete blood count CBC laboratory test.
The hematocrit is calculated indirectly from the average volume and the number of red blood cells. However, automated analyzers may not be available in areas where resources are low. In the microhematocrit method, a technician only needs a small sample of blood from a finger-prick.
In the other methods, the technician draws blood from the inner side of your arm or the back of your hand. Blood donors must have a minimum of There are separate requirements for the red cell-only donation known as Power Red. Recent studies show that there is a need for blood transfusions every 2 seconds. Blood donations can help trauma patients, cancer patients, people with chronic illnesses, and more.
What Does Hematocrit Mean? What Is a Hematocrit Level? What Is Normal Hematocrit? Symptoms may include:. Your healthcare provider may also order a complete blood count, or CBC, which is a blood test that counts all the different types of cells in your blood. Your healthcare provider may also order a test that measures your hemoglobin to find out how much oxygen your red blood cells are carrying. Test results may vary depending on your age, gender, health history, the method used for the test, and other things.
Your test results may not mean you have a problem. Ask your healthcare provider what your test results mean for you. Results are given as a percentage. Normal hematocrit values are different for men, women, and children.
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