 What containers think school explain in this video on anemia of chronic disease? So that means that there is some sort of chronic underlying condition that causes a decrease in production of erythrocytes meaning red blood cells and I have a separate video that goes into erythropoesis So how red blood cells are generally Generated so please refer back to that video to understand a lot of the pathophysiology Physiology behind that But for here for anemia of chronic disease we have certain causes so anything that can cause chronic inflammation It can certainly be autoimmune Any or certain types of infections such as HIV malaria and hepatitis can lead to chronic anemia of chronic disease and then also Cancer and that's mostly because of the suppression of the bone marrow and then also chronic kidney disease Because we cannot activate erythropoietin. So please refer back to my chronic kidney disease video so you can see the correlation there Generally, we have decreased red blood cell production decreased red blood cell lifespan and decreased erythropoietin that would generally help us stimulate the bone marrow production of the red cells So when there is some sort of an exposure or an event that leads to this chronic anemia The immune system responds and there are cytokines that then cause an increase in iron uptake of Macrophages so these macrophages that are actually usually good Just eat away all that iron that we have which then means that we have decreased iron available on the hemoglobin molecules Which then will allow us To produce less erythro sites through erythropoiesis, which will then decrease the red blood cell lifespan Decrease the bone marrow response to erythropoietin. So there's all these different mechanisms here that play a role in anemia of chronic disease for our diagnostic tests or signs and symptoms first as Always with anemia patients will most likely be fatigued dizzy and pale because they're lacking those red blood cells They might also show signs of hyperbolemia with increase in heart rate and low blood pressure For diagnostic tests, we are always on any type of anemia We're going to see these decreased red blood cells and a decreased level in hemoglobin and hematocrit And then many times when we suspect that there is an anemia going on We're going to check iron studies B12 and folate levels to check for these particular anemias and most likely are going to be normal But for anemia of chronic disease, we also have to think about these underlying conditions so we're going to have to check the patient for some kind of liver disorder or kidney disorder by checking liver and renal functions and as well as Electrolytes B because we know that patients with chronic kidney disease or any kind of kidney issues really are at risk for hyperkalemia which can be lethal if untreated and the potassium gets too high For treatment, we always want to address the underlying cause So if this is an autoimmune response or something related to a malaria exposure, we can certainly help treat the underlying cause But the patient can also receive blood transfusions to help augment the blood volume that they are lacking and also we can administer the erythropoietin that they might be lacking to help them produce the red blood cells and that is to our particular treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease as well as cancer patients For our nursing care We want to always check vital signs because we know if the patient can be tachycardic and hypotensive Check their labs all these things discussed here put them on a telemetry monitor Not only because of the tachycardia, but also because we have to think about electrolytes and potassium disturbances Educate our patients about what we're Given them as a treatment and then also what they could possibly need to do to help administer blood as ordered administer erythropoietin if that's the case and then certainly we want to have fallen Infection prevention measures in place to make sure that they don't get hurt or sustain an infection that could then even be worse for their chronic disease Thanks for watching this video on anemia of chronic disease Please check out the other anemia videos I have as well and I'll see you soon right here on nursing school explained Thanks for watching