Anemia in children

Anemia. The word on everyone's lips, however, whether all is well imagine what this disease is and how many species it has? This blood disease is very widespread. They are ill adults and adolescents, anemia in infants is also rather common phenomenon.

Before we talk about what is anemia, and what are the signs of anemia in children, would like to brush up on existing still at school, the knowledge of what is blood and what are its functions.

Even little kids know that red liquid, which flows from knocked knees, and there is blood. Blood has a variety of interesting features. For example, blood, thanks to a special protein, tends to coagulate, thereby stopping the bleeding.

Blood is constantly circulates through the arteries, veins and capillaries, strictly on a certain route. Oxygenated blood rushes to all organs and tissues of the human body and carbonation and other waste products, the blood returns through the veins. Interesting fact: The total length of the blood vessels is about 100 000 km.

The liquid component of blood is called plasma. The plasma contains a large number of proteins, fats, carbons, micro and macro, many of which take in the process of hematopoiesis. Also in the plasma are blood cells:

  • Erythrocytes. Pink blood cells are shaped like plates. The pink color gives them a part of the protein hemoglobin. The main function of hemoglobin - transport: the red blood cells carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, erythrocytes determined Rh - factor and human blood group.
  • White blood cells. The size is the largest blood cells. In the middle of a red blood cell contains a nucleus, around which there are small granular inclusions. These blotches are called granulocytes. There are also cells having a much smaller size, with a round, almost the entire area of ​​the cell nucleus - lymphocytes. A cell having a bean-shaped nucleus, called monocytes. All these cells are leukocytes and blood.

    The main role of white blood cells - protective. It leukocytes take the first blow in the event of penetration into the human body a variety of pathogens. In addition, cancer immunity is also responsible leukocytes. White blood cells, as befits a real "soldiers" are divided into different types of "troops". T - lymphocytes recognize the foreign cells and storing them, - providing production of lymphocytes necessary in this situation, antibodies, macrophages and neutrophils kill them. Thus not only kills foreign cells, and leukocytes. Incidentally, pus - is not nothing but a cluster of dead white blood cells.

  • Platelets - cells responsible for blood clotting and stop.

Plasma with the contained blood cells called peripheral blood. However, speaking of the circulatory system, not to mention the bone marrow, in which there is a birth and maturation of blood cells. Before shaped red blood cells get into the peripheral blood, they go through a difficult stage of maturation. At the birth of absolutely all cells we are similar to each other as brothers - twins. Only after the phase division and maturation they become erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets.

Life expectancy is low blood cell counts: Neutrophils live only 10 hours, the platelets - 10 days. A red blood cells can be called a long-lived - their life expectancy is as much as 120 days.

And finally, the last link in the chain of the circulatory system - spleen. The spleen destroys the aged cells, and reacts to the emergence of a modified - for disease cells and also destroys them.

That branch of medicine that deals with the study and treatment of diseases of the blood, called a hematologist, and, accordingly, a doctor who specializes in diseases of the blood, is the title of doctor - hematologist. To it must immediately contact the parents who notice signs of anemia in children.

Nearly all blood diseases in children have symptoms in the early stages are practically identical:

  • The deterioration of the general condition of the body.
  • Weakness, fatigue.
  • A significant decrease in appetite.

If parents ignore the first warning "bells", the state of the child may be significantly degraded. Many parents are very alarmed by symptoms in their children, such as:

  • Pronounced pallor, often with a touch of jaundice.
  • The appearance of dark circles under the eyes.
  • Spontaneous nosebleeds, the emergence of numerous bruises.
  • Also, there are often a child's persistent inflammation of the lymph nodes.

If the doctor suspects a hematologist blood diseases in children and the symptoms also confirm the existence of the problem, he will appoint a special blood tests, based on which will be diagnosed.

It identifies several blood parameters for evaluating the correct operation of the circulatory system.

  • Red blood cells and hemoglobin level. Considered normal figures of 4 million and 120 respectively. The color is determined by the color indicator index. Color figure can be normal, low (hypochromic) and high (hyperchromatic). If these figures are lowered blood, anemia, which may be normochromic, hypochromic, or, respectively, hyperchromic. For example, 1 degree of anemia in children is characterized by a decrease in hemoglobin level of approximately 20 units.
  • The next indicator, on which the laboratory conducting the study of blood, draws attention to this WBC. The percentage of such cells leukocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes, and is called the leukocyte formula.
  • Also present in the formula of blood cells that bear the name of basophils and eosinophils. Their level increases when the child is suffering from allergic diseases or parasitic infestation.
  • Platelet count does not change throughout a person's life and normally shall not be less than 200000. If the platelet count falls, symptoms such as systematic bleeding, often nasal, the occurrence of petechiae (called petechiae), bruises. If you notice such symptoms in children parents should consult a doctor immediately hematologist, in the absence thereof, to the pediatrician.

In that case, if a child has an infectious or inflammatory diseases in the blood immediately increased levels of white blood cells, as well as laboratory blood can be seen the emergence of single cells in the blood, which is not yet fully matured. Such changes are called leukemoid reaction. But if the disease is viral in nature, the level of white blood cells is greatly reduced.

There is a huge amount of blood disorders, but the most frequent anemia. For example, anemia in infants has long ceased to amaze doctors. Even more than that, It is the children of the first two years, the most frequently affected by the disease. However, anemia can also come in different types:

  • Iron-deficiency anemia.
  • Hemolytic anemia in children. Much rarer than iron deficiency anemia in children, treatment is more difficult.
  • Hypochromic anemia in children is very common, it is a type of iron.
  • Aplastic anemia in children is a very serious and dangerous disease among children with this disease is very high mortality rate.

Iron-deficiency anemia

 anemia in children under one year

The most common type of anemia - this is iron. Hypochromic anemia in children also applies to iron. Treated hypochromic anemia in children just as well and regular iron.

Iron deficiency anemia in children symptoms is pronounced, and attentive parents never miss the pathological changes in the health of children. The child may experience a change in behavior, a pronounced pallor.

His blood counts are also dramatically changed in the direction of decrease of red blood cells - red blood cells and hemoglobin. As mentioned above, hemoglobin contains iron, necessary for the normal supply of oxygen. That is why this type of anemia, and got its name.

Also iron is essential not only for building a hemoglobin protein, but is included in the cellular respiration enzymes. Therefore, when a shortage of iron fails in many metabolic processes of the body.

Iron deficiency anemia in infants occurs most often.   Causes of anemia in children are quite diverse. In some cases, anemia arises from - the characteristics of fetal development, and in other developing anemia from - the impact on the child's body outside of unfavorable factors.

It is often observed anemia in preterm infants. This feature is explained by the fact that the main supply of iron child receives it in the last three months of fetal development. Just how strongly expressed anemia in premature infants, it depends on what stage of pregnancy the baby is born. The lower the gestational age, the less time to get a crumb of iron from the mother.

However, it may be not only anemia in preterm infants. Parents of those children who were born just in time, as you can not lose vigilance. Pay particular attention must monitor the health of your baby those mothers who during pregnancy had severe toxicosis, particularly the second half of pregnancy, and chronic diseases. Very often, an iron deficiency anemia in infants is caused by abnormal pregnancies.

Another important reason for occurrence of iron deficiency anemia in young children, is an intensive growth of the baby in the first two years of life. The weight of the baby during the year increased to three or even more times. Accordingly, the volume of blood increases by about three times. Iron requirement crumbs also increases at least threefold. That is why the possible emergence of anemia in infants.

Contrary to the mistaken belief in the power of anemia in infants does not have the disease at absolutely no effect. Because iron is contained mainly in the foods that children first year of life can not be consumed. But in the milk, unfortunately, the iron content is very low.

Treatment of anemia in children under one year, as a rule, provide medical way.   In our time, there are wonderful iron supplements, which raise the level a few days. However, remember that the treatment of anemia in children under one year should be carried out only by prescription and under the strict supervision of your doctor.

If anemia in children under one year treatment is essential. If parents ignore the disease, hoping that it will pass by itself, may develop serious complications. Anemia in children under one year treatment is not carried out, resulting in extensive oxygen starvation of the entire body, the oppression of the normal operation of the central nervous system, the lag in the physical, the same mental development of the baby. And to avoid this is very simple, there is absolutely no difficulty in the treatment of anemia in children under one year. To do this, parents simply enough with the appearance of the relevant, above, symptoms, consult a doctor, who, after will be installed anemia in children under one year, prescribe a treatment that will suit for your baby.

But catering for anemia in children older than one year, it is already playing an important role. Ration child significantly expands and can adjust it so that the body receives a large amount of iron. The highest content of iron in such food products, such as:

  • Buckwheat.
  • Apples and apple juice. Preferably, use a green apple varieties.
  • Red beets.
  • Meat low-fat varieties.
  • Liver.
  • Pomegranate juice. However, remember that the children of the second year of life pomegranate juice should be diluted with water at a ratio of 1 to 1, in order to avoid problems with the gastro - intestinal tract.

Treatment of iron deficiency anemia in children, as a rule, effective and does not take much time.

You also need to tell you about another group of children, who are at increased risk. This girls at puberty. During this period there is a significant body of its restructuring, and consequently, the level of requirements for iron increases significantly. Treatment of iron deficiency anemia in children in this group, unfortunately, usually starts with a big delay. This is due to the fact that the disease takes a long time generally asymptomatic.

Anemia manifests itself when developing a condition called chronic medical sideropenia. In other words, chronic iron deficiency. Signs of such anemia in children in children include:

  • Very fatigue.
  • The appearance of disgust at the sight and smell of meat and fish.
  • Perversion of appetite - the desire to eat chalk, sand and other non-edible things.
  • Sear previously normal skin type.
  • Increased brittle hair and nails.

If a child like iron deficiency anemia in children, treatment should be started immediately, and much more intense than in normal, non-complicated form of the disease.

This form of iron deficiency anemia in children is dangerous. Treatment often includes transfusion of blood or its components. It is therefore important not to try to run the development of the disease even in the absence of complaints periodically blood tests. For the treatment of uncomplicated forms of iron deficiency anemia in children does not cause any difficulties.

Hemolytic anemia in children

Hemolytic anemia in children - the second most common disease related to a group of anemias. This anemia appears due to the fact that red blood cells are produced in normal amounts, too fast break. Their life expectancy is only a few weeks.

Causes of anemia in children is usually hereditary. There are two types of this kind of anemia, depending on how the inheritance of the disease occurred. As everyone will remember from school biology course in general, for all the signs in the body meet two types of genes - dominant or paramount, and a recessive or secondary.

If the patient is a dominant gene and recessive - a healthy, disease is dominant. But if the disease is caused by a combination of two recessive genes of patients, the disease is considered to be recessive.

Recessive type of hemolytic anemia in children is much greater than the dominant. However, fortunately, including hemolytic anemia occurs most often the dominant type of the disease, called anemia Minkowski-Chauffard. When this type of disease, anemia, red blood cell destruction occurs in the spleen, where, in fact, should occur. But when nesferotsitarnyh hemolytic anemia, which are inherited by recessive trait, red blood cells are destroyed everywhere - in the liver, bone marrow, spleen.

This anemia in children has the following symptoms:

  • Permanent pale skin at the beginning of the disease.
  • In the course of the disease all the more pronounced yellowness of the skin.
  • Periodic fever up to 30 degrees.

Based on laboratory studies of blood and health, doctors choose the tactics of how to treat anemia in children. Most often, to facilitate the state child performed a blood transfusion. After stabilization doctors often recommend surgical treatment of hemolytic anemia - splenectomy. Splenectomy - the removal of the spleen, which is responsible for the destruction of red blood cells. Following the operation, there is a complete clinical cure a sick child with any degree of severity of the dominant hemolytic anemia. However, a genetic defect in humans still remain and in the future is very likely to pass the disease is inherited.

But the situation in the event of illness nesferotsitarnymi forms of hemolytic anemia is much more difficult. Due to the fact that red blood cells are destroyed in many organs, and not only in the spleen, it allows the removal of only a small effect, if not frankly useless.

Aplastic anemia in children

Less frequently common type of anemia - a hypoplastic anemia. The causes of anemia in children lies in the fact that for some - any reason going bone marrow, resulting in the disruption of the process of hematopoiesis.






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