These inclusions are most commonly found in critically ill patients, particularly those with liver disease, and their presence on the peripheral blood smear is associated with a high short-term mortality rate.

[3][4] Critical green inclusions are a rare finding, and when found they are suggestive of a poor prognosis, hence the colloquial term death crystals.

[5] However, critical green inclusions are of limited utility for predicting mortality because they are usually found in severely ill patients whose poor prognosis is already evident for other reasons by the time the crystals are detected.

Currently, it is suggested that critical green inclusions are more likely to be phagocytized products of lysosomal degradation related to tissue injury.

[8] The composition of the inclusions is not well understood, but transmission electron microscopy has shown that they are rich in lipids and possibly related to lipofuscin.