Megaloblast. Now there’s a word you don’t hear every day. The root -blast (from the Greek blastos, meaning germ or bud) may be somewhat familiar since we talk about blast cells (very young hematopoietic precursor cells) in hematology. And megalo- (from the Greek megas, meaning large or great) is also used fairly frequently, as in splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen). So does “megaloblast” just mean a large, immature cell? We’ll answer this question, and many more, in this discussion of megaloblastic anemia.
After listening to this AudioBrick, you should be able to:
- Describe the pathogenesis of megaloblastic anemia.
- List common causes of B12 and folate deficiency and associated nonhematologic symptoms of each.
- List and understand the characteristic complete blood count values in megaloblastic anemia.
- Describe and identify the morphologic changes present in the blood and bone marrow in a patient with megaloblastic anemia.
- Describe the treatment of megaloblastic anemia.
You can also check out the original brick on Megaloblastic Anemia from our Hematology collection, which is available for free.
Learn more about Rx Bricks by signing up for a free USMLE-Rx account: www.usmle-rx.com
You will get 5 days of full access to our Rx360+ program, including nearly 800 Rx Bricks. After the 5-day period, you will still be able to access over 150 free bricks, including the entire collections for General Microbiology and Cellular and Molecular Biology.
If you enjoyed this episode, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more med students (or future med students) listen to the podcast, the more we can provide to the future physicians of the world.
Follow USMLE-Rx at:
Learn how you can access over 150 of our bricks for FREE: https://usmlerx.wpengine.com/free-bricks/