[Assessment of reticulocyte hemoglobin content as a guide for iron supplementation in hemodialyzed patients]. / Valutazione del contenuto emoglobinico reticolocitario (CHr) come guida alla supplementazione marziale nei pazienti emodializzati.

BACKGROUND: In literature the reliability of reticulocyte hemoglobin content (CHr) has been recently emphasized to detect "functional" iron deficiency induced by erythropoietin therapy. METHODS: In the present work the behavior of CHr in 68 uremic patients hemodialysis has been evaluated. RESULTS: Its values appeared poorly correlated (R2 = 0.32) to the hypochromic erythrocyte percent values, and furthermore CHr sensitivity seemed poor, with pathologic low values detected in three cases only, all characterized by reduced mean corpuscular volume (MCV). CONCLUSIONS: In the cases personally observed, MCV and CHr are weakly correlated (R2 = 0.15); reticulocyte hemoglobin absolute value in personal opinion does not appear as a reliable index of iron deficiency, being rather dependent on reticulocyte volume.