Anaemia Flashcards
What is different classifcations for anaemia?
Hb<13g/dL men and <12 in women over 15 years
What are RF for anaemia?
- Extremes of age
- Female sex
- Lactation
- Pregnancy
What causes microcytic anaemia?
- Iron deficiency anaemia
- Thalassaemia
- Sideroblastic anaemia
- Anaemia of chronic disease
- Sickle cell anaemia
What causes normocytic anaemia?
- Acute blood loss
- Anaemia of chronic disease
- Bone marrow failure
- Renal failure
- Hypothyroidism
- Haemolysis
- Pregnancy
What causes macrocytic anaemia?
- B12 or folate deficiency
- Alcohol excess
- Reticulocytosis
- Cyotixc
- Myelodysplastic syndromes
- Marrow infiltration
- Hypothyroidism
- Antifolate drugs
What are the signs of haemolytic anaemia?
- mildly jaundice
- normally normocytic
- splenomegaly
- Anaemia
What would blood results for haemolytic anaemia show?
- Increased LDH
- Haemoglobinuria
- Haemosiderinaemia
- Decreased haptoglobins
What are hereditary causes of haemolytic anaemia?
- membrane (hereditary spherocytosis)
- haem (thalassaemias, sickle cell)
- enzymes (G6PD defici)
What are acquired causes of haemolytic anaemia?
- autoimmune
- drugs
- MAHA (fibrin strands in circulation and when RBCs pass through they get damaged)
- Infection (malaria)
What are symptoms and signs of anaemia?
Depends on cause:
- Fatigue
- Dyspnoea
- Headache
- Faintness
- Palpitations
- Pallor
What are signs and symptoms of anaemia if severe?
- tachycardia
- ejection systolic murmur
- cardiac enlargement
- later heart failure
- increased resp rate
What are investigations for anaemia?
- Blood film
2. Ferritin
What is the management plan for anaemia?
- Blood transfusion is Hb<70g/L and acute
- Chronic: iron supplements (ferrous sulfate 200mg/8h)
- Give BT very slowly in heart failure
What are causes of reduced uptake IDA?
- IBD
- Malnutirtion
- Coeliac
- Achlrohydria
What are the causes of increased loss IDA?
- GI malignancy
- IBD
- menstruation
- Peptic ulcer
What are causes of increased demand IDA?
- Pregnancy
2. Breastfeeding
In anaemia of chronic disease what are levels of ferritin and TIBC?
- high/normal ferritin
- low TIBC
(acute phase protein so high during infections)
In IDA what are levels of ferritin and TIBC?
- low ferritin
2. high TIBC
What would you see on a blood film for IDA?
- Ansio-Poikilocytosis
- Pencil cells
- Hypochromic and microcytic
What is TIBC?
Transferrin/Total Iron binding capacity it means the same as Transferrin level
What are symptoms of IDA?
- Angular cheilitis
- Koilonychia
- Pale
- Weight loss
- Stomach issues
What are causes of IDA?
- Reduced uptake
- Increased loss
- Increased requirement
What is the triad for colon cancer?
- Unexplained IDA
- Change in bowel habit
- PR bleeding
(+FLAWS)
What type of anemia is aneamia of chronic disease?
usually a normocytic anaemia but can present as microcytic
What is the path of anemia of chronic disease?
chronic disease e.g. IBD leads to increase of cytokines and increased in hepicidin release
What does the increase of hepicidin release lead to in anaemia of chronic disease?
- Decreases uptake of iron
- Decreases transport of iron
- Increases storage of iron
- Therefore a lot of ferritin (iron store)
What happens to iron in infection?
- Infective organism wants to utilize the body’s iron
- In response to this, cytokines switch off iron transport via hepcidin
- This increases its storage and decreases its presence in serum.
What is a common type of macrocytic anemia?
megaloblastic anaemia