Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0020639 (hypoproteinemia)
 1,134 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The presence of anaemia and serum protein alteration frequently makes the treatment of pressure ulcers more difficult. Several haemato-chemical parameters were observed in 40 patients with sacral pressure ulcers in order to determine the pathogenesis of these complications. All of the patients showed mild-moderate anaemia with low serum iron and normal or increased ferritin and hypoproteinemia with hypoalbuminemia. Our results suggest that both anaemia and serum protein alteration depend on the chronic inflammatory state due to the presence of pressure ulcers. Both anaemia and hypoproteinemia disappeared after pressure ulcer healing. A correct diagnosis is important for the treatment. Iron therapy is useless and potentially dangerous (iatrogenic haemochromatosis) since anaemia is the result of the inability to use iron stores and not iron deficiency. The treatment of serum protein alterations should be based on a dietary therapy rich in protein and calories; the administration of albumin should be reduced, since albumin is low in essential amino-acids and too expensive; albumin administration should be limited to cases with severe hypoproteinemia and oedema.
Spinal Cord 1997 Jan
PMID:Anaemia and serum protein alteration in patients with pressure ulcers. 902 23

This study was conducted to further investigate the natural history of the anemia, hypoproteinemia and hypoalbuminemia commonly observed in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Blood samples were taken from 46 traumatic SCI patients at the time of initial admission to an acute rehabilitation hospital and again approximately one year later during a routine follow-up appointment. At initial admission, 65 percent of patients were anemic (hemoglobin < 13.0 g/dl), 86.7 percent were hypoalbuminemic (albumin < 3.2 g/dl) and 48.9 percent were hypoproteinemic (total protein < 6.5 g/dl). Deficiencies were most commonly observed in tetraplegics and in patients with complete injuries. At the time of follow-up, 6.8 percent of patients were anemic, 2.2 percent demonstrated abnormally low serum protein concentrations and a significant (p = 0.01) decrease in the incidence of each deficiency was observed. Our findings suggest that anemia and decreased serum protein concentrations, while commonly observed in the acute SCI population, are much less frequently encountered in the more chronically injured. If noted in the chronic SCI patient, these deficiencies should alert clinicians to the likelihood of a concurrent process.
J Spinal Cord Med 1997 Jul
PMID:Anemia and serum protein deficiencies in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury. 926 80