 In automated blood cell counting, there is no such thing as an artifact. Because everything the counter measures, one ought to be able to explain. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia, there is a maturation defect or abnormality in cell cycle growth. So, small lymphocytes do not mature past a certain point. And they multiply and therefore you don't expect to see the normal distribution curve again. Because the cells get arrested, there is an arrest of maturation. So, the lymphocytes all look the same. They are the same size and they are the same stage of maturation. So, they lose that damn bell curve and rather gain a plateau. The mature lymphocytes are about the same size as the red blood cells. And remember that the quality that the counter picks up is based on size and cellular content. So, the counter picks up cells of similar size as RBC and plots them. So, you ought to remember that in arrest of maturation, that is neoplastic maturation of lymphocytes, if the arrest occurs at a point where they are similar in size to RBCs, then they would interfere with your red blood cell indices. They will interfere on the right side of it because their sizes will be like a large RBC. So, you will see a plateau of the tail end, the right tail end of your curve. Always pay attention to the curve and not the numbers. However, in this case, a glance at your WBC total count will tell you that you would have a leukocytosis and that will be the answer to that tale.