Anemia
hideAnemia (pronounced /əˈniːmiə/, also spelled anaemia or anæmia; from Ancient Greek ἀναιμία anaimia, meaning "lack of blood") is a decrease in normal number of red blood cells (RBCs) or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin deficiency.
Since hemoglobin (found inside RBCs) normally carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, anemia leads to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) in organs. Since all human cells depend on oxygen for survival, varying degrees of anemia can have a wide range of clinical consequences.
The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss (acutely such as a hemorrhage or chronically through low-volume loss), excessive blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or deficient red blood cell production (ineffective hematopoiesis).
Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. There are several kinds of anemia, produced by a variety of underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of RBCs, underlying etiologic mechanisms, and discernible clinical spectra, to mention a few.
There are two major approaches: the "kinetic" approach which involves evaluating production, destruction and loss, and the "morphologic" approach which groups anemia by red blood cell size. The morphologic approach uses a quickly available and cheap lab test as its starting point (the MCV). On the other hand, focusing early on the question of production may allow the clinician more rapidly to expose cases where multiple causes of anemia coexist.
For more information about Anemia, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with anemia
Two proteins act as molecular tailors in DNA repair
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- On average, our cells encounter a very lethal form of DNA damage 10 times a day. Lucky for us, we have the capacity to repair each and every one of them. New research now reveals exactly how two well-known ...
Let them eat snail
Nov 19, 2009 |
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A nutritionist in Nigeria says that malnutrition and iron deficiency in schoolchildren could be reduced in her country by baking up snail pie. In a research paper to be published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nu ...
Search results for anemia
Study finds stroke risk from anemia drug Aranesp
Medicine & Health / Medications
Oct 31, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A new study raises fresh safety concerns about widely used anemia medicines, finding that the drug Aranesp nearly doubled the risk of stroke in people with diabetes and chronic kidney problems who are not yet sick ...
Travel may be hazardous to dialysis patients
Oct 30, 2009 |
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If you're sick, traveling to a foreign land may boost your spirits, but jeopardize your health, according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in ...
Study of testosterone in older men
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announced today that it will participate in a large national study of the effectiveness of testosterone as a treatment for anemia, cardiovascular disease, ...
Drugs to treat anemia in cancer patients linked to thromboembolism
Nov 10, 2009 |
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Medications frequently given to cancer patients to reduce their risk of anemia are associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, according to new research led by Dawn Hershman, M.D, M.S., ...
Scientists report first effective medical therapy for rare stomach disorder
Nov 25, 2009 |
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A drug used to treat colorectal cancer also can reverse a rare stomach disorder and should be considered first-line therapy for the disease, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center report this week.
Measuring and modeling blood flow in malaria
Nov 23, 2009 |
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When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red blood cells. Inside the blood cells, the parasites ...
Kill the cancer, not the patient: New toxicity testing approach could make chemo drugs safer
Nov 18, 2009 |
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For cancer patients on chemotherapy, the "cure" can be as deadly as the disease itself. Adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death among patients receiving cancer treatment.
List of search results for anemia
