Case Study #1 A patient comes to you with a master plan. He wants you to change someone s blood to cause their blood to have serious complications with infections, what component of blood would you likely damage? And why? And how? Answer Case study #1: Damage the plasma for the platelets and antibodies Damage the white blood cells for their ability to fight infections. How? Be creative! Case Study #2 Mance Darmstrong, a physical education major, wanted to improve his performance in an upcoming marathon bike race. About 6 weeks before the race, 1L of blood was removed from his body, and the formed elements were separated from the plasma. The formed elements were frozen, and the plasma was reinfused into body. Just before the race, the formed elements were thawed and injected into his body. Explain why this procedure, called blood doping or blood boosting, would help Mance s performance. Can you suggest any possible side effects? Answer Case Study #2: When the blood was removed, the body produces more red blood cells. Once the red blood cells are thawed and infused, he will have extra # of red blood cells which will provide him with an advantage. The added number of red blood cells can cause difficulties for the blood to flow. Case Study #3 Chemicals such as benzene can destroy red bone marrow, causing aplastic anemia. What symptoms would you expect to develop as a result of the lack of a) red blood cells, b) platelets c) white blood cells Answer Case Study #3 a) Fatigue weakeness, and shortness of breath. b) Decreased ability to clot can bruise easily and decrease ability to stop bleeding c) Increase susceptibility to infections and diseass
Case study #4 Mob Barley habitually used barbituarates to ease feelings of anxiety. Because barbiturates depress the respiratory centers in the brain, they cause hypoventilation (ie. Slower than normal rate of breathing). What happens to the red blood cell count of a habitual use of barbiturates? Explain. Answer Case Study #4 The hypoventilation is due to the decrease of blood oxygen. The habitual use of barbiturates stimulate more EPO creation which in turn produces more RBCs to compensate for the low rate of breathing. Case study #5 A patient comes to you and asks you to recommend food items that can create better blood. Name three substances in the diet that are essential for good blood. What blood disorders develop if these substances are absent from the diet? Answer Case Study #5 Vitamin B12 and folate are necessary for blood division. Lack of these vitamins results in anemia. Iron is necessary for hemoglobin production. Vitamin K is necessary for blood- clotting factors. Case study #6 You are a doctor in a clinic and a patient has come to you for consultation. She complains to you that she is having sharp pain on her hands and joints and aside from the pain, she complains that she often loses her breath and feels lightheaded after walking up the stairs. After a brief observation, you can see that the area is red and all swelled up. You decide to take some blood from her and see if anything would come up. What are the steps that you must take to a) Separate the blood, b) After separation, what are you looking for in the blood? ie. RBC count, platelet count? c) Based on what you analyzed in the blood, what is your diagnosis?
Answer Case Study #6 a) Centrifuge the blood b) RBC count, red blood cell shape. c) Sickle cell anemia due to pain on her joins, and shortness of breath. The pain in her joints is due to the cells clogging vessels near the joints. Case study #7 If you want to design a superhero that can clot blood in a ridiculously fast rate, what would you change or alter in the superhero s blood to have that ability? If you are lacking iron in your diet, what is the protein that you will most likely have difficulties in producing? Answer Case Study #7 Increase the number of platelets and have numerous Vit K to create more blood clotting factors. Lacking iron would mean hemoglobin is affected. Case study #8 Sky s blood lab test came back reporting the following numbers: Plasma: 70%, Red Blood Cell Count: 30%, White Blood cells: 1% What is the likely diagnosis of Sky s blood? Answer Case Study #8 High plasma and low RBC count Anemia is the case low number of RBC
Case study #9 You were typing for your own blood, and the results showed that there was agglutination in the anti- A serum, but not the anti- B serum. What blood type are you? Case study #10 You were typing for your own blood, and the results showed that there was agglutination in both anti- A and anti- B serum. What blood type are you? Case study #11 A Rh- mother is pregnant with her first child, what Rh (+ or - ) should her child be in order to have a safe birth for both the mother and the child? Answer to Case study #11 It does not matter for the first child because the antibodies against Rh+ has not been developed by the mother yet. Case study #12 April who is O- is pregnant with her second child who is O+. Her first child, Jimmy, who is type A+ transfused some of his blood into April during child birth. Now April has the Rh antibody in her blood stream. As her doctor what do you recommend in preventing the hemolytic disease of the newborn? Case Study #12 Answer The mother needs to be injected with Rho (D) Immune globulins, which are antibodies against Rh antigens weeks before delivery to prevent the mother from developing the antibodies. Also, binds to the antigen in the mother to prevent antibodies from entering through placenta.
Case study #13 An Asian patient came in complaining of difficulties in breathing, fatigue, heightened chances of infections. You took a blood count and found a low red blood cell count, low hemoglobin count and a high iron count. The bones appear to look thicker than a comparable individual. What is your diagnosis? What should be the treatment? Case study #13 Answer Low hemoglobin count could mean the patient has Thalassemia, in which hemoglobin production is reduced. By the low amount of hemoglobin, iron accumulates in the blood street. It produces a mild anemia.