Clinical Significance of Reticulocyte Hemoglobin Content (Ret He) in Diagnosis of Iron Deficiency Anemia

Abstract

Background: Reticulocyte hemoglobin (RET He) measures incorporation of iron into hemoglobin of reticulocytes. This study aims to evaluate the clinical significance of reticulocyte hemoglobin content (RET He) in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and to compare it with other conventional iron parameters.

Materials and Methods:

A cross sectional observational study was conducted at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Hemograms of 186 cases were studied on Allinity Hq. RET He was obtained in the same report. Iron studies including serum ferritin, serum iron and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) were done. All hemograms with Microcytic Hypochromic anaemia were included as cases and normal hemograms were taken as controls. Mean ± Standard Deviation and p value of all parameters were calculated. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was done. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of RET HE with cut off 27 and 28 were calculated.

Results: Out of 186 cases,93 Samples were from healthy controls and 93 were IDA with male: female ratio 0.63. RET He was 23.32±2.49 pg in patients with IDA and 31.87±2.29 pg in controls. RET He showed   positive correlation with hemoglobin, erythrocyte indices, serum iron, and transferrin saturation and negative correlation with total iron-binding capacity. With the RET He cut off <27pg and <28 pg; the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV values were 100%,93.9%,93%,100% and 98.9%, 100%, 100%, 90% respectively.

Conclusion: RET He is a simple parameter which predicts IDA accurately, saves on extra draws, additional tests and costs to the patient, besides being prompt.