🩺 MEDLAB BOT AI • CLINICAL MLS MCQ
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📚 Specialty: Hematology & Clinical Microscopy (#HematologyampClinicalMicroscopy)
🎯 Difficulty: Intermediate
🔢 Item: #Q16

❓ QUESTION:
A peripheral blood smear from a 31-year-old post-splenectomy patient displays occasional erythrocytes with single, dense, smooth, perfectly round dark blue-purple inclusions located eccentrically near the cell periphery on standard Wright-Giemsa stain. What are these RBC inclusions, and what is their biochemical composition?

A) Howell-Jolly bodies composed of DNA remnants
B) Basophilic stippling composed of precipitated RNA
C) Pappenheimer bodies composed of ferric iron granules
D) Heinz bodies composed of precipitated hemoglobin

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✅ CORRECT ANSWER: Option A

💡 CLINICAL RATIONALE & DIAGNOSTIC PEARLS:
Howell-Jolly bodies are nuclear fragments composed of residual DNA. They appear as small, dense, round, purple-staining inclusions located eccentrically within erythrocytes on Wright-Giemsa stain. Normally, the spleen's pitting function removes these nuclear remnants; hence, they are commonly found following splenectomy or in severe hyposplenism.

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📢 MedLab Bot AI • Official Clinical Series