Case report - Hyperthermia and nuclear hypersegmentation of blood cells

C Rivière; S Vimeux; S Laurens; L Deluche; P Y Juvin; A Sanson; D Metsu

doi:10.1093/labmed/lmae105

Case report - Hyperthermia and nuclear hypersegmentation of blood cells

Lab Med. 2025 Jan 3:lmae105. doi: 10.1093/labmed/lmae105. Online ahead of print.

Authors

C Rivière¹, S Vimeux², S Laurens³, L Deluche¹, P Y Juvin¹, A Sanson², D Metsu¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory Department, Montauban Hospital Center, Montauban, France.
² Intensive Care Unit, Montauban Hospital Center, Montauban, France.
³ Laboratory Department, Auch Hospital Center, Auch, France.

PMID: 39756067
DOI: 10.1093/labmed/lmae105

Abstract

This case report describes a patient with a medical history of schizophrenia, found in a coma with hyperthermia, likely due to classic heatstroke. The white blood cells observed on the blood smear showed cytological abnormalities characterized by multilobed nuclei, which could be early signs of cell death. The evolution into multiorgan failure led rapidly to death.

Keywords: blood cells; botryoid; cytology; fever; heatstroke; hyperthermia.

© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pathology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.