Hematology

Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC)

Calculates the true number of neutrophils to assess infection risk.

Parameters

×10³/µL (or K/mcL)
%
%

Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) Result

--
FormulaANC (cells/µL) = WBC (×10³/µL) × 1000 × [(% Segs + % Bands) / 100]

Clinical Pearls

An ANC < 1500 cells/µL defines neutropenia. An ANC < 500 cells/µL defines severe neutropenia, which places patients at high risk for life-threatening opportunistic infections and dictates the need for prophylactic antibiotics and/or colony-stimulating factors.

Limitations

The ANC only measures the quantity of neutrophils, not their quality or function. Certain genetic populations have a lower baseline ANC (benign ethnic neutropenia) without increased infection risk.