Diagnostic Significance of Biomarkers of Iron Deficiency for Anemia in Clinical Practice.

AIM: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common medical condition, yet there is still some diagnostic uncertainty in this respect. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical significance of biomarkers of iron deficiency (ID) in diagnosing IDA and iron-deficient erythropoiesis in anemic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 103 untreated patients with non-hemolytic anemia were included. Blood count, reticulocyte hemoglobin content (CHr), iron, transferrin saturation (TSAT), ferritin (Ferr), soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and sTfR/logFerr index (sTfR-F index) were determined in the patients. RESULTS: TSAT<16% diagnosed 79 patients with IDA (76.6%), Ferr<30 µg/l - 50 patients with IDA (48.5%). Thomas-plot analysis found 76 patients with ID (73.8%) and 56 of them were with iron-restricted erythropoiesis and IDA (54.4%). Biomarkers of ID were significantly different in anemic patients with iron-deficient erythropoiesis (CHr<28 pg) compared with patients with normal hemoglobinisation (p<0.001). With regard to the predictive value of the parameters of ID for iron-deficient erythropoiesis in anemia, their mutually controlled influence proved sTfR-F index only as independent statistically significant (p=0.011). The optimal cut-off value of sTfR-F index from the ROC curve analysis for detecting iron-deficient erythropoiesis in anemia (CHr<28 pg) was 1.35, with sensitivity of 82.1% and specificity of 80.9% (AUC 0.866; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of IDA depends on the applied biomarkers of ID, and TSAT or ferritin when used alone may lead to diagnostic difficulties. Combining sTfR-F index and CHr to evaluate iron-deficient erythropoiesis in patients with anemia in addition to ferritin and TSAT could contribute to improving the diagnosis of IDA in clinical practice.

A Rare Case of Primary Histiocytic Sarcoma of the Stomach.

Histiocytic sarcoma is a rare lymphohematopoietic malignancy with aggressive clinical course and poor therapy response. The diagnosis relies on the confirmation of its histiocytic lineage and exclusion of other poorly differentiated tumors. Most of the cases present in extranodal sites, but primary gastric involvement is exceptional. We report a case of a 69-year-old woman with epigastric pain and systemic symptoms. Gastroscopy findings and biopsy report suggested a malignant neoplasm. The patient underwent distal subtotal gastrectomy with a 6-cm tumor in the body and antrum of the stomach and ten associated enlarged perigastric lymph nodes. Microscopically they were infiltrated with atypical tumor cells and immunohistochemical staining was positive for CD68, lysozyme, CD45, and CD4; 45% of the cells stained for Ki-67. The pathologic diagnosis was histiocytic sarcoma. CT body scans showed only enlarged retroperitoneal and abdominal lymph nodes. The patient received six cycles of CHOEP chemotherapy with complete therapeutic response, but three months later she experienced an aggressive systemic sarcoma recurrence and although salvage chemotherapy was initiated she died of progressive disease. The presented case widens the differential diagnosis of gastric malignancies, and emphasizes the significance of immunohistochemical examination for histiocytic sarcoma diagnosis. The collection and evaluation of cases of gastric histiocytic sarcoma are important to obtain further progress in prognosis and treatment.