Color enhanced scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of number of red blood cells found enmeshed in a fibrinous matrix on the luminal surface of an indwelling vascular; Magnified 7766x. In this instance,the indwelling catheter was a tube that was left in place creating a patent portal directly into a blood vessel. Note the biconcave cytomorphologic shape of each erythrocyte,which increases the surface area of these hemoglobin-filled cells,thereby,promoting a greater degree of gas exchange,which is their primary function in an in vivo setting. In their adult phase,these cells possess no nucleus. What appears to be irregularly-shaped chunks of debris,are actually fibrin clumps,which when inside the living organism,functions as a key component in |