The serum homocysteine levels and dynamic changes in patients with different etiologic macrocytic anemia

Abstract

Objective To examine the serum homocysteine,folic acid and Vitamin B12 levels in macrocytic anemia patients and observe their dynamic changes following therapy. Methods Homocysteine,folic acid and Vita-min B12 were analyzed by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay. Complete blood cell count was analyzed by opti-cal method and resistance method. Results The homocysteine is significantly higher in nutritional megaloblastic a-nemia[ (71.26±27.84)μmoL/L ] than in drug-induced megaloblastic anemia[(11.44±5.06)μmol/L],in myel-odysplastic syndrome[ (9.51±4.13)μmol/L] and in the normal control group[(8.74±5.42)μmoL/L] (P<0.01). After treated with low-dosage folic acid and Vitamin B12,the patients with megaloblastic anemia presented slow declining but eventually normal homocysteine levels,compared with those received high-dosages. Conclusion Homocysteine can be used for differential diagnosis of macrocytic anemia. The duration of remaining of abnormal ho-mecysteine levels is related to the dosage of folic acid and Vitamin B12. Key words: Homocysteine; Folio acid; Vitamin B12; Macrocytic anemia