Anemia

Anemia, anemia and anemia also written from ἀναιμία anaimia ancient Greek, which means lack of blood) is a decreasing number of red blood cells (erythrocytes) or less than the normal amount of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen binding capacity of each molecule of hemoglobin due to deformity or lack in number development in some other types of deficiency of hemoglobin.

Because hemoglobin (found in red blood cells) that normally carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, anemia leads to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) in organs. Because all human cells depend on oxygen for survival, varying degrees of anemia can have a wide range of clinical consequences.

Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. There are several types of anemia, produced by a variety of underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of red blood cells, which govern the causative mechanisms and the clinical spectrum appreciably, to name a few. The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss (acute, such as bleeding or chronic low-loss volume), excessive blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or deficient red blood cell production (ineffective hematopoiesis).

There are two main approaches: the "kinetic" approach which involves evaluating production, destruction and loss, and the "morphologic" approach which groups anemia by red cell size. The morphologic approach uses a laboratory test cost and more readily available at your starting point (the MCV). On the other hand, focusing early on the question of production may allow the clinician to more quickly expose cases where multiple coexisting causes of anemia.(wikipedia)

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