Iron deficiency anaemia

Question 1

What is iron deficiency Anaemia?

Answer 1

Is where body hasn’t got enough iron.

Iron is needed by the bone marrow to make haemoglobin.

Question 2

Pathophysiology of Iron?

Answer 2

Iron is Mainly absorbed by the duodenum and jejunum. It requires acid in stomach to keep the iron in soluble form. When acid drops iron changes insoluble, which causes iron to not be absorbed. So medication that reduce stomach can interfere with iron absorbtion.

Question 3

cause of iron deficiency?

Answer 3

Blood loss most common in adults

Dietary insufficiency most common in growing children.

Poor iron absorption

Increased requirements during pregnancies.

Most common place of blood loss is GI tract, need to be aware as could be caused by GI tract cancer.

Question 4

Symptoms of Iron deficiency?

Answer 4

Extreme Fatigue
Weakness
Pale skin
Chest pain
Headaches
Cold hands
Brittle nails
Inflammation
soreness of tounge

Question 5

How to test for Iron deficiency?

Answer 5

You want to do a blood test and check transferrin saturation and serrum feratin

Question 6

How to manage iron deficiency?

Answer 6

If its a new iron issue and hasn’t got clear underlying issue, like heavy period and pregnancy. It could be due to GI tract cancer so a colonscopy should be done

Blood infusion can be done to fix anaemia for the time being.

Iron infusion E.g cosmofer

Oral iron for kids that dont have enough iron intake.