1. What is Normal hematocrit ranges?
The normal hematocrit ranges are dependent on two things which are the age and sex of the individual. However, it is only dependent on sex after adolescence.
The normal hematocrit ranges are: 55%- 68% for Newborn babies, 47% - 65% for one week old babies, 37% - 49% for one month old babies, 30% - 36% for three month olds, 29% -41% for one year olds, 36% - 40% for 10 year olds, 42% - 54% for adult males, and 38% - 40% for adult women.
2. What is Occult blood?
An occult blood is defined as a negligible amount of blood present in feces which can only be detected by microscopic examination and chemical tests. It is commonly referred to as fecal occult blood (FOB). The test carried out by the doctors on the feces of an individual to check for the presence of occult blood is called FOBT, Feces Occult Blood Test. There are four methods that can be used to carry out the FOBT in the clinic, they are: Immunochemical fecal occult blood test (iFOBT) and Fecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT), Stool guaiac test for fecal occult blood (gFOBT), fecal porphyria quantification, Fecal DNA test.
3. What is black stool?
The black stool can be defined as a change in the coloration or texture of a stool of an individual which is usually as a result of a change in the diet or as a result of the presence of blood. A black stool which occur as a result of minerals, medication, supplements, or food is referred to as “false melena”. It is referred to as false because the black color does not come from blood. However, a black stool which occur not as a result of any of the above mentioned causes is known as melena. The melena usually occur as a result of rapid or heavy bleeding in the upper GI tract or injuries in some other parts of the stomach.
4. What is packed red blood cells and how it effects the person who is anemic?
The term “packed red blood cells”, can be simply referred to as simply packed cells or sometimes as stored packed red blood cells, can be described as red blood cells that have been collected, processed, and stored in bags as blood product units available for blood transfusion purposes. The collection may either be by RBC apheresis or from a "whole blood" donation followed by component separation. The transfusion of packed red blood cell transfusion may lead to greater rise in hemoglobin and a lower starting hemoglobin in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. For every unit of packed red blood cells (PRBCs) there is an expected rise of hemoglobin circulation by approximately 1 g/dL.
5. What does gastro-intestinal bleeding mean and how does it happen?
The term gastro-intestinal bleeding can be used to describe any bleeding that start in the gastrointestinal tract, this bleeding can however lead to anemia or low blood counts. Bleeding in the gastro-intestine is divided into lower gastro-intestinal bleeding and upper gastro intestinal bleeding. The lower GI bleeding are those that starts from the lower GI tract which includes a large part of the small intestine, anus, rectum, and the bowel. The Upper gastro intestinal bleeding are those that starts from the upper GI tract which includes the first part of the small intestine and the esophagus.
GI bleeding may occur as a result of not too serious conditions, like hemorrhoids or anal fissure, and it could occur as a result of several serious conditions and diseases which include; ulcerative colitis, diverticulosis, angiodysplasias, intestinal polyps, cancer of the stomach, cancer of the small intestine, cancer of the colon etc.6. What does hemodynamically stable mean?
Hemodynamically stable can be described as a situation in which an individual’s blood pressure is high enough to ensure the distribution of blood to all parts of his body. It can also be described as a condition in which an individual has no problem with the peripheral vascular physiological characteristics and the cardiac function which are referred to as the physical aspects of blood circulations. The word hemodynamically was gotten from hemodynamics (an aspect of biology that focusses on blood circulation). In cases like ventricular tachycardia, what determines hemodynamic stability are the; impact on mitral inflow pattern, rate of the ventricular, origin and position of the ventricular tachycardia, and the absence or presence of AV dissociation.
References
Naidech AM, Kahn MJ, Soong W, Green D, Batjer HH, Bleck TP. Packed Red Blood Cell
Transfusion Causes Greater Hemoglobin Rise at a Lower Starting Hemoglobin in Patients With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Neurocrit Care. PubMed 2008;9(2):198-203. doi: 10.1007/s12028-008-9113-8.
William C. S. What is a normal hematocrit?. Hematocrit. MedicineNet Inc.,2014. [web].
Retrieved 22 April 2014. <http://www.medicinenet.com/hematocrit/page2.htm>
Occult Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Detection, Interpretation, and Evaluation. Beg M et al.
JIACM 2002; 3(2): 153–58. Full text PDF retrieved 2013/10/26 <http://medind.nic.in/jac/t02/i2/j>
