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Previous Volume 352:1011-1023 March 10, 2005 Number 10 Next

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Anemia of chronic disease, the anemia that is the second most prevalent after anemia caused by iron deficiency, occurs in patients with acute or chronic immune activation.^1,2,3,4 The condition has thus been termed "anemia of inflammation."^1,2,3,4 The most frequent conditions associated with anemia of chronic disease are listed in Table 1.^{5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22}

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Table 1. Underlying Causes of Anemia of Chronic Disease.

 
Pathophysiological Features

Anemia of chronic disease is immune driven; cytokines and cells of the reticuloendothelial system induce changes in iron homeostasis, the proliferation of erythroid progenitor cells, the production of erythropoietin, and the life span of red cells, all of which contribute to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Dysregulation of Iron Homeostasis

Impaired Proliferation of Erythroid Progenitor Cells

Blunted Erythropoietin Response

Laboratory Evaluation

Iron Status

Erythropoietin

Treatment

Rationale for Treatment

Treatment Options

            Transfusion

            Iron Therapy

            Erythropoietic Agents

            Monitoring Therapy

Conclusions

Source Information

From the Department of General Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria (G.W.); and the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. (L.T.G.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Weiss at the Department of General Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria, or at guenter.weiss@uibk.ac.at.

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