“I got tired, I lacked the air, I had a kind of discomfort,” he confessed Gary Sergott, An American retiree who was interviewed by The New York Times. Sergott and suffers from almost chronic anemia. In his particular case, a hereditary disease caused him daily nasal hemorrhages and exhausted him the hemoglobinred blood cell protein that distributes oxygen throughout the body.
Like many older people who contract this picture, Sergott was prescribed the consumption of tablets every day. This indication was difficult for him to tolerate by maintaining a daily regime of four to six tablets. Some patients who take iron complain about serious constipation, stomach cramps and feel “nausea all the time.”
“Anemia symptoms such as tired William Ershler, Hematologist and researcher. In the National Health and Nutrition Exam Survey of the USA. It was estimated that anemia affects 12.5 percent of people over 60 years.
Michael auerbach, Hematologist, oncologist and co -director of the Cancer Center and Baltimore Blood Disorders, recommended to this patient intravenously instead of oral. Sergott, 78, receives an hourly infusion when its hemoglobin levels and other markers indicate that it needs it, normally three times a year. “It’s like filling the gas tank,” he said and concluded: “I feel very good.”
“Although in the United States iron tablets, free of sale, are cheap. Iron intravenous, more and more prescribed, can cost between $ 350 and $ 2400 by infusion, depending on how the formula is made,” said Auerbach and explained: “Some patients are enough with a single dose, while others will need regular treatment.”
The anemia It has many causes, some more treatable than others. According to American specialists, one third of cases is due to nutritional lack, normally lack of iron, but sometimes vitamin B12 or folate (called folic acid in its synthetic form). The World Health Organization Define as normal 13 grams of hemoglobin by deciliter for men and 12 for non -pregnant women.
It can also be a consequence of blood loss due to ulcers, polyps, diabetes and other causes of internal bleeding. In other cases, anemia is due to chronic conditions such as heart disease, renal failure, bone marrow disorders or intestinal inflammatory diseases, but these people do not lack iron, but are not able to process it to make red blood cells.
The American Hematology Society appointed a committee on the diagnosis and treatment of ferropenia, or iron deficiency, and plans to publish new guidelines next year how world guide in the treatment of anemia.
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