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
Red blood cell indices Red blood cell indices Red blood cell indices are blood tests that provide information about the hemoglobin content and size of red blood cells. Abnormal values indicate the presence of anemia and which type of anemia it is. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is the average volume of a red blood cell and is calculated by dividing the hematocrit (Hct) by the concentration of red blood cell count. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) is the average amount of hemoglobin (Hb) per red blood cell and is calculated by dividing the hemoglobin by the red blood cell count. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC)