Pharmacology - An Illustrated Review (Thieme Illustrated Review Series) by Simmons Mark

Author:Simmons, Mark [Simmons, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thieme Medical Pub
Published: 2011-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

Pentoxifylline

Mechanism of action Pentoxifylline is a dimethylxanthine derivative that decreases blood viscosity and increases erythrocyte flexibility.

Uses. Pentoxifylline is indicated for muscle pain during exercise associated with occlusive arterial diseases of the limbs (intermittent claudication).

24.3 Anemia and Antianemia Drugs (Hematinics)

Iron Deficiency Anemia

Iron deficiency anemia is a condition in which there is insufficient hemoglobin in red blood cells due to a lack of iron (which is an essential component of heme). Approximately two thirds of the iron content of the body (women: 2 g, men: 5 g) is bound to hemoglobin.

Iron deficiency anemia is usually caused by blood loss from menses in premenopausal women, but it can also be due to inadequate dietary intake of iron, gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding (e.g., from peptic ulcers, long-term use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], or certain GI cancers), from GI conditions that decrease the absorption of iron (e.g., Crohn disease), or by pregnancy (in which the need for iron is increased due to the increase in maternal blood volume and for fetal hemoglobin synthesis).

Blood smear in anemia

Iron deficiency anemia is referred to as a microcytic, hypochromic anemia because red blood cells are smaller and paler than usual when a blood smear is viewed through a microscope. Megaloblastic anemia is characterized by immature (megaloblastic) red blood cells that are macrocytic and hyperchromic. Flow cytometry is used in laboratories to measure red blood cell count; hemoglobin concentration; mean corpuscular volume (MCV), which reports the size of the red blood cell; and red blood cell distribution width (RDW), which measure the deviation of the volume of red blood cells. These can then be used to calculate the patient's hematocrit (percentage of the blood that is composed of red blood cells); mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), which is the mean hemoglobin content of each red blood cell; and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), which is the mean hemoglobin content of a given volume of red blood cells. All of these measurements are used clinically to distinguish the different causes and the severity of anemia.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.