Platelets stick together to seal small cuts or breaks on blood vessel walls and stop bleeding. White blood cells (WBCs) and platelets (thrombocytes) also are made in your bone marrow. Red blood cells are made in your bone marrow-a sponge-like tissue inside the bones. They also remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from your body’s cells and carry it to the lungs to be exhaled. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body. For example, a hematocrit value of 40% means that there are 40 milliliters of red blood cells in 100 milliliters of blood. The value is expressed as a percentage or fraction. The hematocrit is a ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the volume of all these components together, called whole blood.
Blood consists of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets (thrombocytes) suspended in a fluid portion called plasma (see Figure 1). The hematocrit measures the volume of red blood cells (RBCs) compared to the total blood volume (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma). Hematocrit is a blood test that measures the proportion of a person’s blood that is made up of red blood cells (RBCs) or the percentage of total blood volume occupied by red blood cells (RBCs).
High Rates of Red Blood Cell Destruction.