THE PLATELETS IN IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA. I. THE RESPONSE TO ORAL AND PARENTERAL IRON

Abstract

In summary, it appears that thrombocytosis frequently accompanies the less severe anemia of iron deficiency and may be related to platelet stimulation in a manner analogous to the erythropoietin increase seen in many of the anemic states. In some of the severely anemic individuals, thrombopenia has been observed related suggestively to several factors, including severe depletion of iron as iron enzymes, a folate deficiency or a transient thrombopoietin deficit. In order to determine with any degree of certainty the etiology of the thrombocytopenia, one would have to evaluate the platelet response in a similarly afflicted group of infants treated with folic acid or simply thrombopoietin rich plasma prior to iron therapy. In regard to the intriguing difference in the platelet response to oral and parenteral iron, subsequent studies, using either extremely small amounts of parenteral iron or large amounts of oral iron, regardless of the initial platelet and hemoglobin values, might cast light on the etiology of this occurrence.