Introduction:

the hemogram is a diagnostic test used in pediatric clinical practice and the leukogram, as part of it, studies leukocyte alterations and has a high relevance in the diagnostic presumption of many diseases.

Objective:

to describe the usefulness of the leukogram as a tool in the diagnostic process with pediatric patients.

Methods:

35 scientific articles on the subject were consulted, obtained from the databases PubMed, Medline, Scielo and Google Scholar, and 29 were used as bibliographies, with a predominance of articles published during the last five years and others due to their relevance.

Development:

the hemogram is one of the most requested tests by the physician and evidences the functioning of the bone marrow at the time of analysis, which is an invaluable aid for the diagnosis of pediatric diseases. For its part, the leukogram is one of the components that frequently indicates the presence of an infection (including its type), reflects the capacity of the organism to react to it and constitutes a diagnostic and evolutionary indicator of various primary hematological disorders, as well as their therapeutic response.

Conclusions:

there is evidence that the number and characteristics of the different white blood cells are useful to identify the presence of an infection, including its type and severity, as well as to suspect and check the severity and therapeutic response of various hematologic disorders, including hematologic malignancies.

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