SEC S20W3 || Morphological Anemias - Module 3

It has really been a wonderful and educative class for me all this while and even though I was not really able to participate in Hematopoiesis, but today I will be partaking in the assignment of Morphological Anemias.

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When we talk about the Morphological Anemia, it means when anemia is classified majorly using the criteria of the appearance of red blood cells which is called RBCs. Not only that but also making use of their size and also the hemoglobin content. Actually, this classification is carried out because it helps to aid know the cause of anemia.

When it comes to what Anemia means, Anemia simple means a condition medically that happens due to reduction in the number of red blood cells or generally the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. Hemoglobin in its own cases is the protein that exist in RBCs that helps to secure oxygen and deliver it to the necessary tissues.

There are actually three major types of morphological anemia which I will like to talk about.

• Microcytic Anemia: During this case, the red blood cells are smaller than the normal size it should be. I.e (MCV < 80 fL). It is also identified when the hemoglobin content is reduced and then begins to look pale.

• Normocytic Anemia: In this type, the Red blood cells actually appear at the normal size it should be. I.e (MCV 80-100 fL) but the issue is they are reduced in number and this means when RBCs are not produced sufficiently.

• Macrocytic Anemia: In this particular case, the Red blood cells are larger than the normal size it should be. I.e (MCV > 100 fL). This is most of the time caused due to deficiency in vitamins.

I will also like to talk about the causes of Morphological Anemia which are listed below;

Causes

• Iron Deficiency
• Genetic Conditions
• Acute Blood Loss
• Kidney Disease
• Deficiencies in Vitamins
• Alcoholism
• Liver Disease

Also, we have symptoms that you can pay attention to when you see it manifest in as you can regards to Morphological Anemia.

Symptoms

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Rapid Heartbeat
• Pallor

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Well personally, over the course of my life, I have not actually experienced anemia before but there is this particular female friends of mine that I have years ago which suffer from Anemia. Heritage a best friend discovered she have anemia when she was 7 years old and that to an extent affects the aspect of her life.

She usually experience fatigue, weakness and often dizziness. At the end of the day, she needs to seek medical attention and after the necessary diagnosis and test, she was placed on treatment using iron supplements so that it can help increase her iron intake in her body. Now she is doing very much better than before.

Making research and from the last class, I discovered that when it comes to pathophysiologically, anemia begins to develop majorly when you see an imbalance between the production, destruction and majorly the loss of the red blood cells. Medically, it is expected that RBCs should circulate at least 120 days before it is removed but there are actually lots of processes that can stand in the gap.

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The first one is when there is a decreased RBC production. In this aspect, the bone marrow was not able to produce the needed number of RBD and that is due to vitamin deficiencies, chronic diseases and most of the time bone marrow disorder.

The second process that can disrupt the balance or stand in gap for proper functioning of RBS is when there is an increase in the RBC destruction. Blood loss can also happen to it most especially the chronic blood loss.

Our human body works in a way that when the body actually detects anemia, it first increases the heart rate and also the respiratory rate but when it is left for a long period of time and is not related, it can now begin to lead to organ dysfunction and heart failure.

In this case, these are some of the reports I was actually able to come out with actually.

Interpretation of the Clinical Case

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Based on the laboratory result, it is obvious that the patient has what is called Microcytic Anemia and that is because we can find MCV to be of 71 fL which is below the normal ranger it should be.(80-100 fL).

In this type of case, we can say that the positive HCG also present means she is pregnant. I actually forgot to add that to the table and we can trace it that the anemia can be caused due to iron deficiency. Like I said earlier, iron is really important for hemoglobin production most especially during pregnancy. Generally the body needs sufficient iron.

When it comes to Pregnancy related anemia, it is not early treated, it can at the end of the day leads to serious complications like preterm birth, it can even lead to having low birth weight. One of the recommendations or treatment the doctor can do is to start iron supplementation so as to increase the iron intake to the patient body.

Thank you for this lecture, looking forward to more interesting and benefiting lectures in the more weeks to come

I invite @lovelystar , @newekemini5 and @okere-blessing to drop a very constructive comments on this post and also to participate in this contest.