ANEMIA

ANEMIA

                       Anemia  is a decrease in 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. Because hemoglobin (found inside RBCs) normally carries oxygen from the lungs to the capillaries, 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.
                   Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. The several kinds of anemia are produced by a variety of underlying causes. It 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. The three main classes 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).
Of the two major approaches to diagnosis, the "kinetic" approach involves evaluating production, destruction and loss, and the "morphologic" approach groups anemia by red blood cell size. The morphologic approach uses a quickly available and low-cost lab test as its starting point (the MCV), although this test can lack specitivity and sensitivity in many diseases. On the other hand, focusing early on the question of production may allow the clinician to expose cases more rapidly where multiple causes of anemia coexist.

Treatment

1. Must use an AYURVEDA medicine to control  Anemia .

2. There is no any other treatment  like AYURVEDA method.

3 .AYURVEDA  method is 100% safe. 

4. Nothing  side effects and nothing reactions.

Signs and symptoms

                       Anemia goes undetected in many people, and symptoms can be minor or vague. The signs and symptoms can be related to the underlying cause or the anemia itself.

Most commonly, people with anemia report feelings of weakness, or fatigue, general malaise, and sometimes poor concentration. They may also report dyspnea (shortness of breath) on exertion. In very severe anemia, the body may compensate for the lack of oxygen-carrying capability of the blood by increasing cardiac output. The patient may have symptoms related to this, such as palpitations, angina (if pre-existing heart disease is present), intermittent claudication of the legs, and symptoms of heart failure.

                 On examination, the signs exhibited may include pallor (pale skin, mucosal linings, conjunctiva and nail beds), but this is not a reliable sign. There may be signs of specific causes of anemia, e.g., koilonychia (in iron deficiency), jaundice (when anemia results from abnormal break down of red blood cells — in hemolytic anemia), bone deformities (found in thalassemia major) or leg ulcers (seen in sickle-cell disease).

In severe anemia, there may be signs of a hyperdynamic circulation: tachycardia (a fast heart rate), bounding pulse, flow murmurs, and cardiac ventricular hypertrophy (enlargement). 

There may be signs of heart failure.

              Pica, the consumption of non-food items such as ice, but also paper, wax, or grass, and even hair or dirt, may be a symptom of iron deficiency, although it occurs often in those who have normal levels of hemoglobin.

Chronic anemia may result in behavioral disturbances in children as a direct result of impaired neurological development in infants, and reduced scholastic performance in children of school age. Restless legs syndrome is more common in those with iron-deficiency anemia.

Diagnosis

                     Peripheral blood smear microscopy of a patient with iron-deficiency anemia

Anemia is typically diagnosed on a complete blood count. Apart from reporting the number of red blood cells and the hemoglobin level, the automatic counters also measure the size of the red blood cells by flow cytometry, which is an important tool in distinguishing between the causes of anemia. Examination of a stained blood smear using a microscope can also be helpful, and it is sometimes a necessity in regions of the world where automated analysis is less accessible.

                   In modern counters, four parameters (RBC count, hemoglobin concentration, MCV and RDW) are measured, allowing others (hematocrit, MCH and MCHC) to be calculated, and compared to values adjusted for age and sex. Some counters estimate hematocrit from direct measurements.

                      Reticulocyte counts, and the "kinetic" approach to anemia, have become more common than in the past in the large medical centers of the United States and some other wealthy nations, in part because some automatic counters now have the capacity to include reticulocyte counts. A reticulocyte count is a quantitative measure of the bone marrow's production of new red blood cells. The reticulocyte production index is a calculation of the ratio between the level of anemia and the extent to which the reticulocyte count has risen in response. If the degree of anemia is significant, even a "normal" reticulocyte count actually may reflect an inadequate response.

                      If an automated count is not available, a reticulocyte count can be done manually following special staining of the blood film. In manual examination, activity of the bone marrow can also be gauged qualitatively by subtle changes in the numbers and the morphology of young RBCs by examination under a microscope. Newly formed RBCs are usually slightly larger than older RBCs and show polychromasia. Even where the source of blood loss is obvious, evaluation of erythropoiesis can help assess whether the bone marrow will be able to compensate for the loss, and at what rate.

                      When the cause is not obvious, clinicians use other tests, such as: ESR, ferritin, serum iron, transferrin, RBC folate level, serum vitamin B12, hemoglobin electrophoresis, renal function tests (e.g. serum creatinine) although the tests will depend on the clinical hypothesis that is being investigated.

                    When the diagnosis remains difficult, a bone marrow examination allows direct examination of the precursors to red cells, although is rarely used as is painful, invasive and is hence reserved for cases where severe pathology needs to be determined or excluded.

Classification

                   In the morphological approach, anemia is classified by the size of red blood cells; this is either done automatically or on microscopic examination of a peripheral blood smear. The size is reflected in the mean corpuscular volume (MCV). If the cells are smaller than normal (under 80 fl), the anemia is said to be microcytic; if they are normal size (80–110 fl), normocytic; and if they are larger than normal (over 100 fl), the anemia is classified as macrocytic. This scheme quickly exposes some of the most common causes of anemia; for instance, a microcytic anemia is often the result of iron deficiency. In clinical workup, the MCV will be one of the first pieces of information available, so even among clinicians who consider the "kinetic" approach more useful philosophically, morphology will remain an important element of classification and diagnosis.

                       Limitations of MCV include cases where the underlying cause is due to a combination of factors - such as iron deficiency (a cause of microcytosis) and vitamin B12 deficiency (a cause of macrocytosis) where the net result can be normocytic cells.

Production vs. destruction or loss

                        The "kinetic" approach to anemia yields arguably the most clinically relevant classification of anemia. This classification depends on evaluation of several hematological parameters, particularly the blood reticulocyte (precursor of mature RBCs) count. This then yields the classification of defects by decreased RBC production versus increased RBC destruction and/or loss. Clinical signs of loss or destruction include abnormal peripheral blood smear with signs of hemolysis; elevated LDH suggesting cell destruction; or clinical signs of bleeding, such as guaiac-positive stool, radiographic findings, or frank bleeding.

Microcytic

Microcytic anemia is primarily a result of hemoglobin synthesis failure/insufficiency, which could be caused by several etiologies:

Heme synthesis defect

Iron deficiency anemia (microcytosis is not always present)

Anemia of chronic disease (more commonly presenting as normocytic anemia)

Globin synthesis defect

Alpha-, and beta-thalassemia

HbE syndrome

HbC syndrome

Various other unstable hemoglobin diseases

Sideroblastic defect

Hereditary sideroblastic anemia

Acquired sideroblastic anemia, including lead toxicity

Reversible sideroblastic anemia

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia overall and it has many causes. RBCs often appear hypochromic (paler than usual) and microcytic (smaller than usual) when viewed with a microscope.

                         Iron deficiency anemia is due to insufficient dietary intake or absorption of iron to meet the body's needs. Infants, toddlers, and pregnant women have higher than average needs. Increased iron intake is also needed to offset blood losses due to digestive tract issues, frequent blood donations, or heavy menstrual periods. Iron is an essential part of hemoglobin, and low iron levels result in decreased incorporation of hemoglobin into red blood cells. In the United States, 12% of all women of childbearing age have iron deficiency, compared with only 2% of adult men. The incidence is as high as 20% among African American and Mexican American women. Studies have shown iron deficiency without anemia causes poor school performance and lower IQ in teenage girls, although this may be due to socioeconomic factors. Iron deficiency is the most prevalent deficiency state on a worldwide basis. It is sometimes the cause of abnormal fissuring of the angular (corner) sections of the lips (angular stomatitis).

                      In the United States, the most common cause of iron deficiency is bleeding or blood loss, usually from the gastrointestinal tract. Fecal occult blood testing, upper endoscopy and lower endoscopy should be performed to identify bleeding lesions. In older men and women, the chances are higher that bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract could be due to colon polyps or colorectal cancer.

                      Worldwide, the most common cause of iron deficiency anemia is parasitic infestation (hookworms, amebiasis, schistosomiasis and whipworms).

The Mentzer index (mean cell volume divided by the RBC count) predicts whether microcytic anaemia may be due to iron deficiency or thallasemia, although it requires confirmation.

Macrocytic

                          Megaloblastic anemia, the most common cause of macrocytic anemia, is due to a deficiency of either vitamin B12, folic acid, or both. Deficiency in folate and/or vitamin B12 can be due either to inadequate intake or insufficient absorption. Folate deficiency normally does not produce neurological symptoms, while B12 deficiency does.

Pernicious anemia is caused by a lack of intrinsic factor, which is required to absorb vitamin B12 from food. A lack of intrinsic factor may arise from an autoimmune condition targeting the parietal cells (atrophic gastritis) that produce intrinsic factor or against intrinsic factor itself. These lead to poor absorption of vitamin B12.

                       Macrocytic anemia can also be caused by removal of the functional portion of the stomach, such as during gastric bypass surgery, leading to reduced vitamin B12/folate absorption. Therefore, one must always be aware of anemia following this procedure.

Hypothyroidism

  

                      Alcoholism commonly causes a macrocytosis, although not specifically anemia. Other types of liver disease can also cause macrocytosis.

Drugs such as Methotrexate, zidovudine, and other substances may inhibit DNA replication such as heavy metals (e.g. Lead)

                   Macrocytic anemia can be further divided into "megaloblastic anemia" or "nonmegaloblastic macrocytic anemia". The cause of megaloblastic anemia is primarily a failure of DNA synthesis with preserved RNA synthesis, which results in restricted cell division of the progenitor cells. The megaloblastic anemias often present with neutrophil hypersegmentation (six to 10 lobes). The nonmegaloblastic macrocytic anemias have different etiologies (i.e. unimpaired DNA globin synthesis,) which occur, for example, in alcoholism.

                        In addition to the nonspecific symptoms of anemia, specific features of vitamin B12 deficiency include peripheral neuropathy and subacute combined degeneration of the cord with resulting balance difficulties from posterior column spinal cord pathology. Other features may include a smooth, red tongue and glossitis.

                     The treatment for vitamin B12-deficient anemia was first devised by William Murphy, who bled dogs to make them anemic, and then fed them various substances to see what (if anything) would make them healthy again. He discovered that ingesting large amounts of liver seemed to cure the disease. George Minot and George Whipple then set about to isolate the curative substance chemically and ultimately were able to isolate the vitamin B12 from the liver. All three shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Normocytic

Normocytic anemia occurs when the overall hemoglobin levels are decreased, but the red blood cell size (mean corpuscular volume) remains normal. Causes include:

Acute blood loss

Anemia of chronic disease

Aplastic anemia (bone marrow failure)

Hemolytic anemia

Dimorphic

                  A dimorphic appearance on a peripheral blood smear occurs when there are two simultaneous populations of red blood cells, typically of different size and hemoglobin content (this last feature affecting the color of the red blood cell on a stained peripheral blood smear). For example, a person recently transfused for iron deficiency would have small, pale, iron deficient red blood cells (RBCs) and the donor RBCs of normal size and color. Similarly, a person transfused for severe folate or vitamin B12 deficiency would have two cell populations, but, in this case, the patient's RBCs would be larger and paler than the donor's RBCs. A person with sideroblastic anemia (a defect in heme synthesis, commonly caused by alcoholism, but also drugs/toxins, nutritional deficiencies, a few acquired and rare congenital diseases) can have a dimorphic smear from the sideroblastic anemia alone. Evidence for multiple causes appears with an elevated RBC distribution width (RDW), indicating a wider-than-normal range of red cell sizes, also seen in common nutritional anemia.

Heinz body anemia

                 Heinz bodies form in the cytoplasm of RBCs and appear as small dark dots under the microscope. Heinz body anemia has many causes, and some forms can be drug-induced. It is triggered in cats by eating onions  or acetaminophen (paracetamol). It can be triggered in dogs by ingesting onions or zinc, and in horses by ingesting dry red maple leaves.

Hyperanemia

Hyperanemia is a severe form of anemia, in which the hematocrit is below 10%.

Refractory anemia

Refractory anemia, an anemia which does not respond to treatment, is often seen secondary to myelodysplastic syndromes.

Iron deficiency anemia may also be refractory as a clinical manifestation of gastrointestinal problems which disrupt iron absorption or cause occult bleeding. 

Causes

                 Broadly, causes of anemia may be classified as impaired red blood cell (RBC) production, increased RBC destruction (hemolytic anemias), blood loss and fluid overload (hypervolemia). Several of these may interplay to cause anemia eventually. Indeed, the most common cause of anemia is blood loss, but this usually does not cause any lasting symptoms unless a relatively impaired RBC production develops, in turn most commonly by iron deficiency. (See Iron deficiency anemia)

Impaired production

Disturbance of proliferation and differentiation of stem cells

Pure red cell aplasia.

            Aplastic anemia affects all kinds of blood cells. Fanconi anemia is a hereditary disorder or defect featuring aplastic anemia and various other abnormalities.

Anemia of renal failure by insufficient erythropoietin production

Anemia of endocrine disorders

Disturbance of proliferation and maturation of erythroblasts

Pernicious anemia is a form of megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency dependent on impaired absorption of vitamin B12. Lack of dietary B12 causes non-pernicious megaloblastic anemia

Anemia of folic acid deficiency, as with vitamin B12, causes megaloblastic anemia

Anemia of prematurity, by diminished erythropoietin response to declining hematocrit levels, combined with blood loss from laboratory testing, generally occurs in premature infants at two to six weeks of age.

Iron deficiency anemia, resulting in deficient heme synthesis

thalassemias, causing deficient globin synthesis

Congenital dyserythropoietic anemias, causing ineffective erythropoiesis

Anemia of renal failure

Other mechanisms of impaired RBC production

Myelophthisic anemia or myelophthisis is a severe type of anemia resulting from the replacement of bone marrow by other materials, such as malignant tumors or granulomas.

Myelodysplastic syndrome

anemia of chronic inflammation

Increased destruction

                     Anemias of increased red blood cell destruction are generally classified as hemolytic anemias. These are generally featuring jaundice and elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels.

Intrinsic (intracorpuscular) abnormalities cause premature destruction. All of these, except paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, are hereditary genetic disorders.

Hereditary spherocytosis is a hereditary defect that results in defects in the RBC cell membrane, causing the erythrocytes to be sequestered and destroyed by the spleen.

Hereditary elliptocytosis is another defect in membrane skeleton proteins.

Abetalipoproteinemia, causing defects in membrane lipids

Enzyme deficiencies

Pyruvate kinase and hexokinase deficiencies, causing defect glycolysis

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and glutathione synthetase deficiency, causing increased oxidative stress

Hemoglobinopathies

Sickle cell anemia

Hemoglobinopathies causing unstable hemoglobins

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria

Extrinsic (extracorpuscular) abnormalities

Antibody-mediated

          

                 Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia is caused by autoimmune attack against red blood cells, primarily by IgG. It is the most common of the autoimmune hemolytic diseases. It can be idiopathic, that is, without any known cause, drug-associated or secondary to another disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus, or a malignancy, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

              Cold agglutinin hemolytic anemia is primarily mediated by IgM. It can be idiopathic  or result from an underlying condition.

Rh disease, one of the causes of hemolytic disease of the newborn

Transfusion reaction to blood transfusions

Mechanical trauma to red cells

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemias, including thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and disseminated intravascular coagulation

Infections, including malaria

Heart surgery

Haemodialysis

Blood loss

             Anemia of prematurity from frequent blood sampling for laboratory testing, combined with insufficient RBC production

Trauma or surgery, causing acute blood loss

Gastrointestinal tract lesions, causing either acute bleeds (e.g. variceal lesions, peptic ulcers or chronic blood loss (e.g. angiodysplasia)

Gynecologic disturbances, also generally causing chronic blood loss

From menstruation, mostly among young women or older women who have fibroids

Fluid overload

Fluid overload (hypervolemia) causes decreased hemoglobin concentration and apparent anemia:

General causes of hypervolemia include excessive sodium or fluid intake, sodium or water retention and fluid shift into the intravascular space.

Anemia of pregnancy is induced by blood volume expansion experienced in pregnancy.

Treatments

Treatments for anemia depend on severity and cause.

Oral iron

                      Iron deficiency from nutritional causes is rare in men and postmenopausal women. The diagnosis of iron deficiency mandates a search for potential sources of loss, such as gastrointestinal bleeding from ulcers or colon cancer. Mild to moderate iron-deficiency anemia is treated by oral iron supplementation with ferrous sulfate, ferrous fumarate, or ferrous gluconate. When taking iron supplements, stomach upset and/or darkening of the feces are commonly experienced. The stomach upset can be alleviated by taking the iron with food; however, this decreases the amount of iron absorbed. Vitamin C aids in the body's ability to absorb iron, so taking oral iron supplements with orange juice is of benefit.

                   In anemias of chronic disease, associated with chemotherapy, or associated with renal disease, some clinicians prescribe recombinant erythropoietin or epoetin alfa, to stimulate RBC production, although since there is also concurrent iron deficiency and inflammation present, parenteral iron is advised to be taken concurrently.

Parenteral iron

                        In cases where oral iron has either proven ineffective, would be too slow (for example, pre-operatively) or where absorption is impeded (for example in cases of inflammation), parenteral iron can be used. The body can absorb up to 6 mg iron daily from the gastrointestinal tract. In many cases the patient has a deficit of over 1,000 mg of iron which would require several months to replace. This can be given concurrently with erythropoietin to ensure sufficient iron for increased rates of erythropoiesis.

Blood transfusions

                           Doctors attempt to avoid blood transfusion in general, since multiple lines of evidence point to increased adverse patient clinical outcomes with more intensive transfusion strategies. The physiological principle that reduction of oxygen delivery associated with anemia leads to adverse clinical outcomes is balanced by the finding that transfusion does not necessarily mitigate these adverse clinical outcomes. Blood does have risks associated, such as disease transmission and host incompatibility, even in cases where crossmatching was correctly undertaken.

                       Transfusion of the stable but anemic hospitalized patient has been the subject of numerous clinical trials.[citation needed]

                       Four randomized, controlled clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate aggressive versus conservative transfusion strategies in critically ill patients. All four of these studies failed to find a benefit with more aggressive transfusion strategies. And more recent studies have shown that transfusing patients worsens outcome. This is further substantiated by guidelines increasingly advising that transfusions should only be undertaken in cases of cardiovascular instability

                      In addition, at least two retrospective studies have shown increases in adverse clinical outcomes in critically ill patients who underwent more aggressive transfusion strategies.

Hyperbaric oxygen

                     Treatment of exceptional blood loss (anemia) is recognized as an indication for hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. The use of HBO is indicated when oxygen delivery to tissue is not sufficient in patients who cannot be given blood transfusions for medical or religious reasons. HBO may be used for medical reasons when threat of blood product incompatibility or concern for transmissible disease are factors. The beliefs of some religions (ex: Jehovah's Witnesses) may require they use the HBO method.

               In 2002, Van Meter reviewed the publications surrounding the use of HBO in severe anemia and found all publications reported positive results.

Vitamin supplements given orally (folic acid or vitamin B12) or intramuscularly (vitamin B12) will replace specific deficiencies.

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent

The motive for the administration of an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) is to maintain hemoglobin at the lowest level that both minimizes transfusions and best meets individual patient needs.Medical speciality professional organizations do not recommend the use of ESAs to chronic kidney disease patients who do not have hemoglobin levels greater than 10 g/dL and do not have anemia symptoms; and their use should be concurrent with parenteral iron.

Treatment

1. Must use an AYURVEDA medicine to control  Anemia .

2. There is no any other treatment  like AYURVEDA method.

3 .AYURVEDA  method is 100% safe. 

4. Nothing  side effects and nothing reactions.