Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration
| Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Please Take Over This Page and Apply to be Editor-In-Chief for this topic: There can be one or more than one Editor-In-Chief. You may also apply to be an Associate Editor-In-Chief of one of the subtopics below. Please mail us [2] to indicate your interest in serving either as an Editor-In-Chief of the entire topic or as an Associate Editor-In-Chief for a subtopic. Please be sure to attach your CV and or biographical sketch.
Overview
The mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, or MCHC, is a measure of the concentration of hemoglobin in a given volume of packed red blood cell. It is reported as part of a standard complete blood count.
Differential diagnosis of MCHC
It is diminished ("hypochromic") in microcytic anemias, and normal ("normochromic") in macrocytic anemias (due to larger cell size, though the haemoglobin amount or MCH is high, the concentration remains normal). MCHC is elevated in hereditary spherocytosis.
This count is used to give a rough guide to what shade of red, RBC will be. (paler=lower than the standard)
Because of the way automated analysers count blood cells, a very high MCHC (greater than about 370 g/L) may indicate the blood is from someone with a cold agglutinin. This means that when their blood gets colder than 37°C it starts to clump together. As a result, the analyzer may incorrectly report a low number of very dense red blood cells for blood samples in which agglutination has occurred.
This problem is usually picked up by the laboratory before the result is reported. The blood is warmed until the cells separate from each other, and quickly put through the machine while still warm.
It is calculated by dividing the hemoglobin by the hematocrit. A normal value is 32 to 36 g/dl.[1]