Plasma Iron

Abstract

This chapter introduces the iron metabolism and discusses the methods for the determination of iron and iron-binding capacity in serum or plasma. The results obtained by applying these methods in normal, experimental, and pathological circumstances are presented in the chapter. The methods for the extraction of iron from plasma use trichloroacetic acid, incubation with hydrochloric acid, and reducing agents. The major processes of iron metabolism, and the various ways in which they can be assessed quantitatively or semi-quantitatively have been outlined in the chapter. The picture of iron metabolism is uniform in other malignant diseases than in the various types of leukemia. Anemia is frequent, while plasma iron and total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) are both often slightly low, but there is no definite relation between the magnitudes of the changes. The determination of serum iron and TIBC is an excellent aid to the diagnosis of iron deficiency, but an aid that is rarely required by the physician.