SERUM IRON PARAMETERS IN ANEMIC CASES DUE TO IRON DEFICIENCY, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND LIVER CIRRHOSIS

Objective: In this study we aimed to show the relationship between soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) level and other iron parameters in patients with iron deficiency anemia, anemic rheumatoid arthritis and anemic liver cirrhosis, and in the combined anemias to evaluate the iron deficiency by an alternative method to gold standart bone marrow iron staining. Methods: Our study was carried out on four groups consisting of eighteen patients with iron deficiency, eighteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis and anemia, eighteen patients with liver cirrhosis and anemia, and eighteen healthy individuals. Iron (Fe) parameters, vitamin B-12, folate, C-reactive protein (CRP), sedimentation, Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), urea, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, hemogram, peripheral smear and sTfR levels were studied. Results: In our evaluation, sTfR level was significantly higher in patients with iron deficiency anemia compared to other groups (p<0.01). No significant correlation was found between sTfR and other parameters in the anemic patient group with rheumatoid arthritis. Negative correlation of sTfR with platelet number, transferrin saturation (TS) and ferritin (r=0.019); and positive correlation of MCV with iron levels (r=0.005) have shown that MCV, TS, Fe and ferritin act together with sTfR in patients with liver cirrhosis to show signs of iron deficiency anemia. Conclusion: In the diagnosis of iron deficiency accompanying chronic disease or liver cirrhosis, the evaluation of the usual iron parameters together with the sTfR level will be a more reliable and perhaps an alternative approach to the determination of invasive bone marrow iron score.