This talk covers the most common causes of anemia.  Iron deficiency – probably the most common acquired anemia – is discussed with details about testing and treatment.   Serum ferritin is the most efficient test for iron status  Oral iron only needs to be given once a day and for patients who can’t replete or tolerate oral iron, intravenous iron is a safe option.  Thalassemia – defects in the protein part of hemoglobin – is the most common cause of inherited anemia.  Most patients are carriers present with microcytosis and varying degrees of anemia but severely affect patients are transfusion dependent.   Increasingly B12 deficiency is being found.  Diagnosis is better made by use of metabolic testing with assay of methylmalonic acid.  Oral therapy suffices for most patients. Finally recommendations are made for evaluating anemic patients. To watch the lecture, and learn more about the speaker, please visit www.continulus.com/library/?collection=emergency+medicine&chapter=airway

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