haemotology Flashcards
how do you diagnose anaemia?
the symptoms are very non-specific so you have to run a blood test
what are the common symptoms of anaemia?
pale conductive pale nail bed glossitis (red painful tongue) angular cheilitis (fissures at corners of mouth) elevated DPG in RBC.
what does the 2,3 DPG levels of RBC mean?
higher DPG levels increases the RBC ability to release oxygen at respiring tissues.
what can cause iron-deficient anaemia?
poor diet
increased bleeding by increased menstruation, ulcers or increased gastrointestinal bleeding
or demand for iron has increased, ie when pregnant.
microcytic means?
decreased MCV, decreased diameter of red blood cell.
what can chronic bleeding be caused by?
gastrointestinal bleeding, or increased menstruation
why does a cell become microcytic?
when a red blood cell is starved of iron.
why does haemoglobin decrease a lot during chronic blood loss?
as the EPO takes a long time to be stimulated so it takes a while for the RBC production to resume.
what are the different treatments for iron deficient anaemia?
1) treat the underlying cause ie increased menstruation or gastrointestinal bleeding
2) oral iron tablet like iron sulphates
3) in pregnant women- iron tablets with folic acid
4) blood transfusion
why do you get renal anaemia?
normally a complication of renal disease.
as the kidney produce EPO which produces the RBC so RBC levels in blood is decreased.
eventually the renal anaemia will lead to normocytic anaemia.
how do you treat renal anaemia?
give EPO and Fe
why are pregnant women normocytic when they are anaemic?
as being pregnant causes increase MCV
but anaemia decreases MCV which cancels out.
why do pregnant women become anaemic?
as the mothers blood circulation increases and therefore the blood is diluted.
what is megaloblastic anaemia?
bone marrow is producing abnormal immature large red blood cells.
what is a megaloblast?
an abnormal red blood cell with a large MCV
what causes megaloblastic anaemia?
and how do you diagnose it?
vitamin B12 (which you can get form animal products) or folate deficiency. many symptoms are non-specific so you have to to do a blood test to diagnose it.
what is folate?
this is folic acid and is essential in DNA synthesis.
what caused pernicious anaemia?
body can’t absorb vitamin B12 (which is needed for the folate pathway) due to an autoimmune disease
how is Caron’s disease caused?
problems with absorption of folate, vitamin B12 or Fe
what is haemolytic anaemia?
increased destruction of RBC.
what is spherocytosis?
it is genetic
RBC has a mutated protein which means they get broken down quicker
what is sickle cell anaemia?
it is caused by a genetic SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism)
it created an abnormal haemoglobin which causes the RBC to become sickle shaped which blocks the circulation.
then the RBc are more quickly destroyed so can lead to haemolytic anaemia.
aplastic anaemia is what?
low production of all 3 RBC, WBC, and platelets.
deficiency of all 3 is called pancytopenia
how would you get aplastic anaemia?
mostly acquired,
through radiation or anticancer agents and insecticides.
how would you treat aplastic anaemia?
bone marrow transplant, immunosuppressants (to try and stop the destruction of all 3 RBC , WBC, platelets)
or increase WBC by using colony stimulating factors.
what does haematocrit mean?
the ratio between the volume of RBC and volume of blood.
what is polycythaemia?
increase haemoglobin and haematocrit so blood is too viscous so perfusion of blood into tissue is bad.
