Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Bone marrow iron levels in healthy and sick dogs with low iron
By Pawsat, Grace A et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2023·Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Bone marrow iron scoring in healthy and clinically ill dogs with and without evidence of iron-restricted erythropoiesis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at bone marrow samples from 139 dogs to see how well they could identify iron deficiency, which can affect red blood cell production. The researchers found that dogs without any blood-related health issues had higher iron scores, while those with lower scores and decreased reticulocyte hemoglobin (a measure of iron availability) often showed more signs of iron deficiency. This suggests that if a dog has a low iron score and low reticulocyte hemoglobin, it might be important to check for other issues like blood loss or nutritional deficiencies.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: There are few reports in dogs that have evaluated the utility of semi-quantitative scoring of bone marrow iron stores in conjunction with reticulocyte hemoglobin (CHr) to identify iron-restricted erythropoiesis due to absolute iron deficiency or iron sequestration. OBJECTIVES: An established system for scoring iron stores in human bone marrow samples was applied to dogs. The objectives were to evaluate interobserver agreement (Κ), determine marrow iron scores in dogs without detectable hematologic abnormalities, and assess combined interpretation of iron scores and CHr to evaluate for iron-restricted erythropoiesis. METHODS: Four blinded observers independently scored iron in 139 Prussian blue-stained canine marrow samples from 0 (none) to 6 (very heavy), including healthy controls (n = 12), clinically ill dogs with (n = 100) and without (n = 16) detectable hematologic abnormalities, and dogs with experimental nutritional iron deficiency (n = 11). Additional medical record data were available for 118 dogs to evaluate for other evidence of iron deficiency (abnormal CHr, RBC indices, serum iron variables, external blood loss, or nutritional deficiencies). RESULTS: Mean Κwas 0.69 (substantial agreement) for all samples but was 0.44 (moderate agreement) for samples with iron scores <3, indicating distinguishing scores 0-2 may not be reliable. Dogs without detectable hematologic abnormalities had scores from 3-5. Dogs with scores <3 and decreased CHr often had more indicators of iron deficiency vs dogs only having low iron scores or low CHr. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of dogs with marrow iron score <3 for external blood loss or nutritional deficiencies is likely clinically worthwhile, particularly if there is also decreased CHr.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37127847/