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The ideal is to increase the body's iron deposits, measured as levels of ferritin in serum, with the aim of reaching a ferritin value between 30 and 100 ng/mL. Another clinical study has shown an increase in ferritin levels in those taking iron compared with others receiving a placebo. [11]
Blood tests usually come back normal in affected individuals so they do not serve as a reliable means of diagnosis. [1] Blood tests can show low serum ferritin levels. However this is unreliable as method of diagnosis since some patients show typical serum ferritin levels even at the latest stages of neuroferritinopathy. [1]
Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key component of the hemoglobin protein, acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and facilitating oxygen ...
Iron can be stored in ferritin as ferric iron due to the ferroxidase activity of the ferritin heavy chain. [28] Dysfunctional ferritin may accumulate as hemosiderin, which can be problematic in cases of iron overload. [29] The ferritin storage iron pool is much larger than the labile iron pool, ranging in concentration from 0.7 mM to 3.6 mM. [25]
These examples demonstrate that to properly understand a value for TIBC, one also must know the serum iron, the percent transferrin saturation, and the individual clinical situation. In modern laboratory testings, serum ferritin levels are generally accepted as reliable single indicators of the presence of iron deficiency. [citation needed]
The ferritin levels measured usually have a direct correlation with the total amount of iron stored in the body. However, ferritin levels may be artificially high in cases of anemia of chronic disease, where ferritin is elevated in its capacity as an inflammatory acute phase protein and not as a marker for iron overload. [citation needed]
Serum iron is a medical laboratory test that measures the amount of circulating iron that is bound to transferrin and freely circulate in the blood. Clinicians order this laboratory test when they are concerned about iron deficiency, which can cause anemia and other problems. 65% of the iron in the body is bound up in hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells.
Iron-deficiency anemia is confirmed by tests that include serum ferritin, serum iron level, serum transferrin, and total iron binding capacity. [59] A low serum ferritin is most commonly found. However, serum ferritin can be elevated by any type of chronic inflammation and thus is not consistently decreased in iron-deficiency anemia. [23]