Auer rod

English

Bone marrow aspirate showing acute myeloid leukemia with Auer rods in several myeloblasts

Etymology

First described in 1905 by a Canadian physician, Thomas McCrae, then at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, one year before John Auer (1875-1948), the US physiologist after whom they are named.

Noun

Auer rod (plural Auer rods)

1. (medicine) clumps of azurophilic granular material that typically form elongated needles seen in the cytoplasm of myeloid leukemic blast cells.

Synonyms

• Auer body