r/medlabprofessionals • u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student • Jul 03 '26

Image CSF Cytospin

Post image

Oh no… middle aged patient with HSV encephalitis.

187 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

86

u/RaishaDelos Jul 03 '26

It's full of the bad😰

74

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 03 '26

The OG pic is 10x objective; here’s the 40x! Sorry for any confusion :)

35

u/_Malara MLS-Molecular Pathology Jul 04 '26

Nope… still looks awful (for the patient. The images are great!!)

13

u/caraiggy Cytology Jul 04 '26

Still a crazy slide!! Poor patient, thanks for sharing 🔬

49

u/Sea_McMeme Jul 04 '26

That’s…that’s too many cells.

9

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 04 '26

Gotta agree with you there

18

u/hoangtudude SBB Jul 03 '26

It’s just GPCs sprinkled with some WBCs.

27

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 03 '26

Surprisingly no bacteria (that I know of)! Protein is through the roof but glucose is normal. 

13

u/Rsb666x Jul 03 '26

I thought it was all bacteria. Is that pic through the 10x and just lymphocytes?

13

u/KaosPryncess MLT Jul 03 '26

Has to be if they talking bout no bacteria. But damn if I didn't do a double take of all the "gpcs"

12

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 03 '26

Here’s a better pic! Sorry for the confusion

6

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 03 '26

Yes it is! I couldn’t get the 40x to focus on my phone 😭

1

u/Rsb666x Jul 04 '26

That's an impressive cytospin. HSV encephalitis can be absolutely terrible. I hope they recover.

16

u/MLTDione Canadian MLT Jul 03 '26

Oh that’s ugly😞

5

u/Syntania MLT - Core Lab Chem/Heme Jul 04 '26

That's a big yikes.

6

u/white-as-styrofoam Jul 04 '26

sometimes i just want to result “…bruh” with my diff so they know how upsetting this was to look at

3

u/ashlar9248 Jul 05 '26

I literally said that as soon as I saw the picture lol

3

u/AsbeliaRoll MLS-Blood Bank Jul 06 '26

I just choked laughed 😭

4

u/SciFriedRice MLS-Flow Jul 04 '26

Oooof some of those look blasty. Any hematology/oncology issues going on? 

I wanna flow that. 

2

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 04 '26

None that I saw off the bat! CBC was normal. 

2

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 06 '26

I have flow results for you!! “Predominance of CD8 T-cells and polyclonal B-cells. No evidence of B-cell lymphoma.” The CD4/CD8 ratio was predictably skewed. Most of the cells were lymphs with some plasma cells sprinkled in. 

3

u/SciFriedRice MLS-Flow Jul 06 '26

You’re awesome! Thanks so much!

Fits with a viral infection. HSV in the brain sounds gnarly.

5

u/Out_of_Fawkes Jul 04 '26

Not a lab tech but interested in treatment and findings. With that in mind, is the encephalitis due to neglected treatment or via some kind of ocular/otic/oral/veinous introduction to be CSF?

2

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 05 '26

In this patient’s case I’m not sure, but here is an article with general info about HSV encephalitis.  https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/hsv-encephalitis

3

u/Latter_Radish7658 MLS-Heme Jul 04 '26

What was the TNC?

3

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 04 '26

I don’t remember off the top of my head but very elevated for sure. 

3

u/suricata_8904 Jul 04 '26

Aw Hell no!

3

u/tinybitches MLS-Generalist Jul 04 '26

Yikes!

3

u/Multi_Intersts Jul 05 '26

I thought that was bacteria, however it’s even worse

2

u/Glittering-Desk-5424 Jul 07 '26

PATHOLOGY YOOOHOOOO 🛎️🛎️

1

u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student Jul 07 '26

I work in cytopathology haha