MACRO METHOD (WINTROBE METHOD) FOR ESTIMATION OF PACKED CELL VOLUME (PCV) OR HEMATOCRIT

Principle

Anticoagulated whole blood is centrifuged in a Wintrobe tube to completely pack the red cells. The volume of packed red cells is read directly from the tube. An advantage with this method is that before performing PCV, test for erythrocyte sedimentation rate can be set up.

Equipment

1. Wintrobe tube: This tube is about 110 mm in length and has 100 markings, each at the interval of 1 mm. Internal diameter is 3 mm. It can hold about 3 ml of blood.
2. Pasteur pipette with a rubber bulb and a sufficient length of capillary to reach the bottom of the Wintrobe tube.
3. Centrifuge with a speed of 2300 g.

Specimen

Venous blood collected in EDTA (1.5 mg EDTA for 1 ml of blood) or in double oxalate. Test should be performed within 6 hours of collection.

Method

1. Mix the anticoagulated blood sample thoroughly.
2. Draw the blood sample in a Pasteur pipette and introduce the pipette up to the bottom of the Wintrobe tube. Fill the tube from the bottom exactly up to the 100 mark. During filling, tip of the pipette is raised, but should remain under the rising meniscus to avoid foaming.
3. Centrifuge the sample at 2300 g for 30 min (To counterbalance a second Wintrobe tube filled with blood from another patient or water should be placed in the centrifuge).
4. Take the reading of the length of the column of red cells.

Hematocrit can be expressed either as a percentage or as a fraction of the total volume of blood sample.

Significance

In anemia, PCV is below the lower level of normal range. PCV is raised in dehydration, shock, burns, and polycythemia.

After centrifugation of anticoagulated whole blood, three zones can be distinguished in the Wintrobe tube from above downwards-plasma, buffy coat layer (a small greyish layer of white cells and platelets, about 1 mm thick), and packed red cells. Normal plasma is straw-colored. It is colorless in iron deficiency anemia, pink in the presence of hemolysis or hemoglobinemia, and yellow if serum bilirubin is raised (jaundice). In hypertriglyceridemia, plasma appears milky. Increased thickness of buffy coat layer occur if white cells or platelets are increased in number (e.g. in leukocytosis, thrombocytosis, or leukemia). Smears can be made from the buffy coat layer for demonstration of lupus erythematosus (LE) cells, malaria parasites, or immature cells.