[CME-Laboratory 63: Diagnostics of Iron Metabolism]

CME-Laboratory 63: Diagnostics of Iron Metabolism Abstract. Iron deficiency is common and affects the course of many chronic diseases. The diagnosis of absolute and manifest iron deficiency anemia can be easily made by measuring hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. In inflammatory diseases, the diagnosis can be facilitated by additional laboratory parameters such as soluble transferrin receptor. In several chronic diseases like cardiac or renal failure, different and higher thresholds for serum ferritin apply depending on the disease and stage, sometimes with additional consideration of transferrin saturation. Transferrin saturation is also important for the diagnosis of hemochromatosis. In patients with transferrin saturation >45 %, diagnosis usually requires evidence of homozygosity for the C282Y mutation in the HFE gene.