Myelodysplastic patients with raised percentage of hypochromic red cells have evidence of functional iron deficiency

Philip T. Murphy, J. P. Quinn, D. O'Donghaile, R. Swords, J. R. O'Donnell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Raised percentage hypochromic red cells (%HRC) were detected at diagnosis in 10 of 34 consecutive patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) [refractory anemia (RA) (4/26) and RA with ring sideroblasts (6/8)], all of whom had normal or increased serum ferritin and bone marrow iron stores. Elevated %HRC has persisted in all 10 cases and subsequently developed in another RA patient who later had a complete remission of MDS with normalisation of %HRC after a respiratory tract infection. A strong positive correlation was found between %HRC and erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin levels in 11 MDS patients tested (p=0.01), suggesting that functional iron deficiency contributes to ineffective erythropoiesis in cases of MDS with raised %HRC. Five of seven patients with elevated %HRC had satisfactory haemoglobin responses to a trial of human recombinant erythropoietin without iron supplementation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)455-457
Number of pages3
JournalAnnals of hematology
Volume85
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin
  • Erythropoietin
  • Myelodysplastic syndrome
  • Percentage hypochromic red cells

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Hematology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Myelodysplastic patients with raised percentage of hypochromic red cells have evidence of functional iron deficiency'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this