Spurious thrombocytopenia in an automated platelet quantitation: A dilemma with the regular laboratory tasks

Spurious thrombocytopenia is a very rare condition, in which the actual number of platelets circulating in the body is substantially lesser than the number of platelets that automated cell counters record. It is crucial to be aware of this event since spurious thrombocytopenia might result in the incorrect diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, which would then necessitate additional expensive and time-consuming testing in the laboratory and the wrong course of treatment. In this article, actual knowledge of this uncommon event and the clinically significant laboratory will be compiled and reviewed based on the literature that has been published. The pathophysiological and laboratory aspects, important information on the identification and avoidance of false thrombocytopenia, and potential methods for determining the corrected platelet count were discussed.