Erythocyte deformability is a measurable property, and various means for its measurement have been explored - with each having results and significance being highly particularized to the given approach employed. Accordingly, the term is somewhat loose in the sense that a given cell or sample of cells may be deemed significantly more "deformable" by one means/metric relative to another means/metric. Thus for meaningful "apples-to-apples" comparisons involving cell deformability, it is important to utilize the same qualitative approach.