Signs and flags near the lab test value has an important role in reading and understanding the lab work results by simple human person.
Firstly, you must understand that the platelets count may be done as one of the parameters in the CBC test, a routine blood test to measure blood cells count and cells shape and Anemia level as well, or platelets counted in a single order without the rest of CBC blood test components.
How does the laboratory report platelets value after counting by the auto-counters?
The values must be sorted in a simple order so that anyone can read the results easily, at the left there's "the test name, platelets", at the middle there's "the value of your platelet count in the sample taken from your blood", and at the right portion there's "the reference values range".
How do you read a platelet count with L letter?
Reference normal ranges of human blood platelets is 150,000 to 450,000 cells in each microliter of blood, it's a concentration expression of course. And therefore, if your platelet count meets the normal limits of the reference range, the report does not add any notation beside the platelet number because it's normal and no need of flagging it. But if your platelets count exceeds the upper normal value in the reference range it can be told that your platelets is abnormally high and has the sign "H" at the right of PLT. And likewise, if your platelet counting is decreased, the value in the lab resort will be lower than the lower value of the reference range and has a small "L" sign at the right side.
What is platelet count L?
The capitalized or small "L" letter near the platelets count is abbreviation to the word "Low", which a flag means insufficient platelets in your blood, thus you may experience the signs and symptoms of "decreased platelets count".
The notation "L" right the platelet result appears when your platelet value is lower than the lowest normal value (150,000) for healthy human platelets.
It's necessary to know that the platelet count value does not provide sufficient information about the shape and size of the overall platelets in your blood, the platelets shape and size appear in the blood film results, and the platelets aggregation function is demonstrated by the test "PLT aggregation".
The reason of "L" notations beside the counted PLT value is to help read your low results by a simply look which eliminate the misunderstanding and support the correct lab typing methods of test results.
You must revise your doctor when show "L" flag near your plt results because it means you may have some sort of "Thrombocytopenia" or "thrombopenia", a medical condition in which your blood haven't got sufficient platelet to support the coagulation process after any injury or bleeding, the reasons of low platelets are too many and published in another post here.
Too little platelets in the blood test means severely decreased platelets count which require urgent medical care, although the lab report type the same "L" letter near the PLT value, and therefore, the "L" flag does not mean to what degree is the decrease in the number of platelets in your blood, so please revise your results with a medically educated person or simply send us your labs to get simple interpretation.
