Effect of High Concentrations of Leukocytes on Whole Blood Viscosity

Abstract

Abstract Whole blood viscosity of patients with leukemic leukocytosis was compared to that of normals with a similar total packed cell volume (TPCV). Leukocytes in suspension were also studied and found to have a greater viscosity than erythrocytes. We found no relation between the magnitude of the leukocyte count and whole blood viscosity. The presence of anemia in the patients with leukemia prevented elevation of their TPCV. This, as well as the normal variability of blood viscosity obscured any increase that could have been produced by the greater viscosity of massed leukocytes.