When laboratory staff spun down blood samples from a 19-year-old woman being treated for a life-threatening bone marrow disease, the liquid portion of her blood came out a dark reddish-brown instead of its usual pale straw color.
The first worry was hemolysis, the destruction of red blood cells inside the bloodstream. Tests ruled that out. The explanation turned out to be one of the drugs treating her disease: eltrombopag, a strongly colored medicine that can tint blood samples.
