Iron Studies

Convert the tablet strength printed on an oral iron pack into the elemental iron it actually delivers.

Convert erythropoietin between mIU/mL, IU/L and mIU/L, with the adult reference interval and what a high or low value means.

Work out the cumulative ferric carboxymaltose dose from body weight and haemoglobin using the simplified label table.

Apply the right ferritin threshold for a patient with raised CRP, where the usual 30 µg/L cut-off no longer excludes iron deficiency.

Convert serum ferritin between ng/mL, µg/L, µg/dL, nmol/L and pmol/L, and see instantly whether the value sits inside the reference interval.

Distinguish empty iron stores from iron that is present but locked away, using ferritin, transferrin saturation and CRP.

Convert haptoglobin between mg/dL, g/L and mg/L, with the adult reference interval and what a low value means in haemolysis.

Convert hepcidin-25 between ng/mL, µg/L, nmol/L and pmol/L, with a note on why reference ranges are not transferable between assays.

Convert serum iron between µg/dL, µg/L, mg/L and µmol/L, with adult reference intervals for men and women.

Place a patient on the spectrum from depleted stores through iron-deficient erythropoiesis to frank iron deficiency anaemia.

Calculate the total iron deficit in milligrams from body weight and haemoglobin, the standard basis for intravenous iron dosing.

Enter a full iron panel — ferritin, serum iron, TIBC and CRP — and get the pattern it represents in one reading.

Convert a total iron requirement into the number of iron sucrose infusions needed, at the standard 200 mg per session.

Grade hepatic iron loading from an MRI R2* or biopsy liver iron concentration, and see the chelation threshold each band implies.

Convert soluble transferrin receptor between mg/L, µg/mL and nmol/L, with the caveat that reference ranges are assay-specific.

Separate iron deficiency from anaemia of inflammation using the ratio of soluble transferrin receptor to the log of ferritin.

Estimate total iron binding capacity from a measured transferrin concentration when your laboratory reports one but not the other.

Convert TIBC between µg/dL, µg/L and µmol/L, and see where the value sits against the adult reference interval.

Estimate transferrin concentration from a reported TIBC, for guidelines and drug labels written in terms of transferrin.

Calculate transferrin saturation from serum iron and TIBC, and read it against the thresholds for iron deficiency and iron overload.

Convert transferrin between mg/dL, g/L, mg/L and µmol/L, with adult reference intervals.

Derive unsaturated iron binding capacity from TIBC and serum iron, or check that a reported set of iron studies is internally consistent.

Convert UIBC between µg/dL, µg/L and µmol/L, and see the value against the adult reference interval.