what is involved in a blood iron study
Checking your iron levels is one of the most important tests that everyone should have done on a regular basis as part of a preventive, proactive health screen; it can be done with a simple blood test called a serum ferritin test; your ferritin level should be between 20 and 80 ng/ml, and 40 to 60 is ideal.
The MCV is a valuable tool in the initial classification of anemia and helps determine the. most cost effective strategy for evaluating the etiology of a patientâs anemia. For. example, the presence of microcytosis should lead to iron studies as part of the initial.
Often, the first test used to diagnose anemia is a complete blood count (CBC). The CBC measures many parts of your blood. This test checks your hemoglobin and hematocrit (hee-MAT-oh-crit) levels. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to the body. Hematocrit is a measure of how much space red blood cells take up in your blood. A low level of hemoglobin or hematocrit is a sign of anemia. The normal range of these levels varies in certain racial and ethnic populations.