What Are the Lab Findings in Iron Deficiency Anemia?

Iron Deficiency Anemia – Diagnosis And Treatment

“What are the lab findings in iron deficiency anemia?”

• General blood parameters
  • Hemoglobin is decreased
  • RBC count is decreased
  • RBC indices, i.e., MCV, MCH, and MCH, C, are reduced or low

Lab findings in iron deficiency anemia

“Case studies on outcomes of iron deficiency anemia management”

• Peripheral blood smear
  • It shows the following features, i.e.
  • Microcytic hypochromic cells, i.e., red cells,s are smaller than normal and have increased central pallor.
  • Anisocytosis or variation in size of the cell. This is indicated by increased red cell distribution width and is more marked in iron deficiency anemia.
  • Poikilocytosis or variation in the shape of the cell, i., the presence of a tailed variety of RBC, elliptical form, is common.
  • In severe anemia, there is the presence of normoblasts, elliptocytes, pencil-shaped cells, and target cells.
  • There is the presence of normal, increased, or decreased platelet count and unremarkable WBCs.

Hematological features of iron deficiency

“Understanding iron deficiency anemia: Causes and lab tests”

• Reticulocyte count: It is normal or decreased.
• Bone marrow
  • There is the presence of erythroid hyperplasia, due to which marrow cellularity is increased.
  • In the bone marrow, the prominent cell is polychromatic normoblast, which is smaller than normal.
  • Cytoplasm shows ragged borders
  • Cytoplasmic maturation lags behind that of the nucleus
  • Prussian blue stain shows a decrease in iron stores.

CBC findings in iron deficiency anemia

“Role of iron supplements in treating lab-confirmed anemia”

• Iron studies
  • There is a decrease in the serum iron.
  • Total iron binding capacity is high and rises to give less than 10% saturation.
  • Serum ferritin is very low, which is indicative of poor tissue iron stores.
  • Red cell protoporphyrin is very low.
  • Serum transferrin receptor protein,n, which is normally present in developing erythroid cells and reflects total red cell ma, ss, is raised in iron deficiency due to its release in circulation.