Red blood cell oxygen has been released the resulting deoxyhemoglobin is of a dark red burgundy color. However, blood can appear bluish when seen through the vessel wall and skin. Pulse oximetry takes advantage of the hemoglobin color change to directly measure the arterial blood oxygen saturation using colorimetric techniques. Hemoglobin also has a very high affinity for carbon monoxide, forming carboxyhemoglobin which is a very bright red in color. Flushed, confused patients with a saturation reading of 100% on pulse oximetry are sometimes found to be suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Having oxygen-carrying proteins inside specialized cells (as opposed to oxygen carriers
Complete blood count many cells, the results are very precise. However, certain abnormal cells in the blood may not be identified correctly, requiring manual review of the instrument's results and identification by other means (such as microscopy) of any abnormal cells the instrument could not categorize. Sophisticated modern analyzers can provide extended WBC differential counts, which include hematopoietic progenitor cells, immature granulocytes, and erythroblasts. Various Red blood cell indices (parameters calculated from other CBC results) are often reported in addition to cell counts and hemoglobin. Automated hematology analyzers calculate the average amount (MCH) and concentration (MCHC) of hemoglobin within each red blood cell.