Urinalysis and Body Fluids 6th Edition by Majorie DiLorenzo, Susan Strasinger

Exercise 13

Describe a situation in which paracentesis might be performed on a patient who does not have ascites. If the RBC count is 300,000/mL, what does this indicate?

Step 1 of 2

Situation to a paracentesis performed on a patient:

Paracentesis performed on a patient who does not have “ascites” might be a situation of blunt trauma and the physician requests to identify if abdominal bleeding is occurring.

• Paracentesis is laboratory examination of peritoneal fluid collected by needle aspirations

• The “ascites” is another name for peritoneal effusion; it is a fluid accumulation between the peritoneal membranes