Patient with Anemia Flashcards
Retic index >2% or absolute retic count > 100,000 indicates
- There is a good marrow response, so there must be an issue of hemorrhage or hemolysis
CBC provides information about which type of cells?
- Red cells
- White cells
- Platelets
Reticulocytes
- Young red cells that are immediately released from the bone marrow as the end result of erythropoeisis
- Full of RNA
- Appear as polychromasia in blood smear
What do patients with chronic anemia complain that they can hear and why do they hear this?
Hear their heartbeat
- The blood flow out of the heart is turbulent as the heart pumps faster to pump the fewer red cells quicker to exchange oxygen sufficiently
- There is an increased stroke volume and heart rate
- The blood comes out of the heart and up the ascending aorta that is pointed towards the ears and that is how they can hear theit heartbeat
Mean Corpuscle Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) may be elevated in what type of diseases?
Spherocytic diseases –> hemolytic
- 36 is normal, but if increases even a small amount, that can indicate presence of a significant number of spherocytes
What are the kidneys response to chronic anemia?
- Kidneys retain salt and water to expand the intravascular volume and patients with compensated, chronic anemia have expanded blood volume
Acute hemorrhage and hypovolemia will trigger
- A reflex vasoconstriction (patients will feel cold and clammy)
Iron deficiency produces a low/high RDW
High RDW because it is a progressive disease and the younger cells will become smaller and smaller
RDW: Normal vs. Widened
- A widened distribution= anisocytosis
RDW
Red cell distribution of width
- Coefficient of variation of the MCV
- How much spread there is in the MCV of all of the different red cells in the patient’s body
- Should be a normal gaussian distribution of red cells
What are the calculated values in a CBC?
- Hematocrit (%)
- MCH
- MCHC
- RDW
What are the 2 ways that anemias may be classified?
- Erythropoietic response (reticulocyte count)
- Red cell size (MCV) and the hemoglobin concentration
If the underlying condition such as malaria or progressive kidney failure causes the anemia, can have further complications such as
Marlarial anemia: Fever will cause more demand on the heart along with the already high demand due to the anemia
Progressive kidney failure: A patient who develops anemia of chronic disease may be more sensitive to the volume overload since they may not be able to excrete the extra volume
Low hemoglobin correlates to
Low O2 delivery that leads to tissue hypoxia, that decreases function in tissues such as the heart, brain, muscles, intestines, etc.
Anemic patients may experience symptoms of tissue hypoxia due to the lack of oxygen delivery to the tissues and these are:
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath, especially with exertion and eventually even with rest
- Cognitive difficulties
- Ischemic pain (angina or claudication)
- Angina pectoris: chest pain from a lack of oxygen delivery to the myocardium
- Claudication: pain in the leg muscles (calves or glutes) with walked (gets better with rest) –> limping; abdominal pain after eating
Red Cell Indices
- MCV
- MCH
- MCHC
- RDW
What happens to the RDW whenever a person with very low levels of iron starts to take iron?
The RDW will increase because the new cells will not be microcytic while the old ones will be
Why can older patients not tolerate anemia as well as younger patients?
Older patients hearts are not as functional, so they may have angina from the increased heart rate
Low MCV (<80)
- Microcytic anemia
- Problem with hemolgobin synthesis
- Causes: iron deficiency, thalassemia, lead poisoning, anemia of chronic disease, sideroblastic anemias
Which value measures how big the RBCs are?
MCV