Aim: Nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) are immature erythrocytes rarely found in the blood of healthy children, adolescents and adults. In this study, our aim is to determine the frequency of samples with NRBC in the complete blood count samples coming to our laboratory. We aimed to examine the white blood cell (WBC) results measured in the automatic blood count device that does not count the NRBC in complete blood count samples with NRBC.

Materials and Methods: Complete blood count samples studied in Biochemistry Laboratory of Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University Health Practice and Research Hospital between 01.02.2017 and 30.09.2017 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: In our study, the frequency of samples with NRBC was 11.34% (n=6924) in 61.083 complete blood count samples studied in the XN-3000 hematology device. In hospitalized patients, the frequency of samples containing NRBC was 26,76%. In addition, it was observed that false high WBC values were obtained in 89 samples, which had a NRBC warning, studied on the XT-1800i device that could not count NRBC count.

Conclusion: As a result; the importance of reporting the NRBC count, and correcting the WBC count manually or automatically in the presence of NRBC were emphasized.