Serum ferritin, serum iron and total iron binding capacity before and after treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Anemia is a common laboratory finding in rheumatoid arthritis [RA]. Disturbance of iron metabolism is the prominent factor in this anemia, but the exact iron status is still controversy. This study aims at studying iron status in RA as well as the effect of the non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug pirprofen on these patients. Blood of 15 female RA patients and 10 control females was assayed for serum iron, TIBC and serum ferritin. Complete blood count of these patients showed a significant decrease of all parameters except MCV. They had hypoferremia with low transferrin saturation, while TIBC and serum ferritin were insignificantly increased. Pirprofen was given orally to the patients as 400 mg twice daily for two months and the same parameters were re-assayed. There was an adequate clinical improvement and iron status was not altered. Only four cases were positive for occult blood in stool after treatment. It could be concluded that RA patients have hypoferremia with adequate iron stores and that pirprofen is an effective drug for RA with a nonsignificant effect on iron status

Study of fibrinopeptide A, fibrin monomer and fibrin degradation products in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

The study was carried out on 20 non-insulin dependent diabetics and 10 healthy adult control subjects. The work aimed at estimation of fibrinopeptide A [FPA], fibrin monomer [FM] and fibrin degradation products [FDP] in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients with and without vascular complications, in addition to euglobulin clot lysis time [EGCLT], blood sugar, serum triglycerides, serum cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. Serum fibrinopeptide-A [FPA] level was elevated in diabetics with vascular complications, reflecting augmented thrombin activity. EGCLT showed significant prolongation in diabetics with vascular complications. Pathological levels of FDP were detected in three diabetic patients [30%] with vascular complications. The significance of these findings were then analyzed and discussed