High Ferritin levels

[cbee]

Hi everyone,

I am on 9/24 and have a question about bloodwork.  Seems the nurse practitioner didn't have an answer but seemed very unconcerned.  I had some tests for iron and iron binding capacity.  Here are the results:
                              Reference Ranges
Iron          149             40-180   MCG/DL
TIBC          354             250-390  MCG/DL
Saturation    42              15-50    %
Ferritin      242 H           10-144   NG/ML

So the iron levels are all within normal except for the ferritin which is extremely high according to the reference ranges.  Another nurse practitioner told me this is normal on tx but I'm not so sure.  Unfortunately, I learned about this late yesterday so I don't have any doctors to check in with. BTW, my ferritin before treatment was 183.8 and that lab's reference range was 10.0-291.0 so it was within normal.

Anyone have any knowledge about this?  What I've found on the web is a little scary.

Thanks

-cbee

[wendyhinde]

i normally have iron deficient anameia due to crohns disease and need cosmofer infusions every 3-4 months to keep levels up. Bloods last week were HB10.7 not too bad but to my amazement my ferritin was 569! is this too high and why after 4-5 years of needinf infusions of cosmofer iron hasd my ferritin gone high? I expected to need an infusion as not feeling too good.thanx wendy

[Soleus]

Have you been tested for Hemochromitosis? It is a genetic disorder that 1 in 12 have that can cause the body to store too much iron. 240 ferritin isn

[cbee]

Thank you so much.  My biopsy 4 years ago showed Grade 1/Stage 2 so it wasn't too bad.  Thank you for relieving my anxiety for the weekend.  Now to find something else to obsess about!  Can you believe my boss said my attitude has changed!  He knowns about the tx.  Gee . . .

Thank you so much for the quick response.

-cbee

[DRAGON SLAYER]

My iron, ferritin & transferritin levels prior to Tx were above normal & my doc wasn't too concerned about it. I also treated for 26 weeks & at the end, all the levels returned to normal & I SVR'ed.
No one knows why in ~50% of HCV patients Fe levels are elevated. However, there's a good correlation of Fe levels returning to normal after attaining SVR. If your initial liver biopsy looked decent (no extensive cirrhosis) don't stress yourself mentally. Concentrate on finishing Tx first & I'm sure the rest will resolve itself.

Good luck all,
Ben