Smudge Cells -A Diagnostic Pitfall

In case of lymphoproliferative disorders an haematological artifact of a fragile lymphocyte has been observed which looks like a smudge or basket cells or shadows of Gumprecht and labelled as smudge cell after the name of its discoverer Gumprecht. Previously this morphological artifact was utilized as diagnostic marker of CLL, but in recent era smudge cell has come up as diagnostic pitfall. In present article an attempt has been made to channelize the identification, counting and clinical significance of smudge cell to minimize it's diagnostic misinterpretation