I Have A History Of Iron Deficiency Anemia And Recent

Posted on Fri, 15 Mar 2019

Question: I have a history of iron deficiency anemia and recent surgery 7 weeks ago. 'My hgb is 10.4 but my retic count is 1.71 does this result still indicate iron def. anemia

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
this is not specific for iron deficiency anemia

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

The retic count does not give an indication of the type of anemia.

Retic count measures the reticulocytes, these are immature red blood cells. Reticulocytes are always present but in some types of anemia, they may be more than normal. Since the reticulocytes come from the bone marrow, their presence in some types of anemia says- the problem (the anemia) is not related to the bone marrow making red blood cells, the bone marrow is fine and trying to respond to the anemia by making more red blood cells.

If a person has anemia and the retic count is low then this can mean that the problem is due to the fact that the bone marrow is not making enough red blood cells- this can cause anemia

The MCV (looks at the size of the red blood cells) and the MCHC (looks at the color of the red blood cells)- can point towards IRON deficiency anemia. In this type of anemia, both the MCV and MCHC are low.
THis can happen in other types of anemia but usually it is related to iron deficiency.

With a history of previous iron def anemia, the slightly low Hb, is likely related to the low iron content.
Iron studies, if necessary, can be done to confirm

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar