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Auer Rods

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Last Modified: May 21, 2006

Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"

What are auer rods and what do they do?

Vicki Sherry, MSN, CRNP, Advanced Practice Oncology Nurse, responds:

Auer rods are clumps of granular material found in leukemic blast cells, part of the diagnosis of leukemia. The presence of Auer rods are generally considered to be associated with acute myelogenous leukemia ( AML). They look like elongated, bluish-red rods inside the blast cell when you look at them under a microscope. They are named after John Auer, the American physiologist who first described them.