Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Hard blood, Part 1 By Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T. Breakthroughs
A RUDDY drop of manly blood, said the poem "Friendship" from the book Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "the surging sea outweighs/The world uncertain comes and goes/The lover rooted stays.
In the olden times, a drop of blood to fix a vow was a serious commitment that placed human life into the equation. And commitment to love has been as serious as a drop of blood to lovers since then. But today, a drop of blood is as common as your trip to your favorite clinical laboratory for a workup on your cholesterol or white blood cells. I am hoping that commitment to love is not as casual as it has become with phlebotomy (i.e. the practice of collecting blood sample). But we are not talking about commitment or love today.
Therapeutic phlebotomy has been considered an advanced treatment for angina pectoris since 1963. Its advocate, cardiologist George Burch of New Orleans, believed that bleeding lessens blood viscosity, which increases blood flow through the narrowed arteries.
Narrowed arteries due to fat deposit, and the consequent occlusion (total blocking) of the heart vessels, have been considered direct causes of angina.
Since then some clinical studies have come out to widen phlebotomy's application in medicine. One recent application was its use in bringing down ferritin levels in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
Ferritin is a protein that binds iron in the blood. Adult males typically have 100 to 150 micrograms per liter (mg/L; equivalent to ng/ml) of blood.
HCV infection has been associated with excess iron deposit in the liver. Iron is essential, but potentially toxic in excess. It generates hydroxyl radicals that play an important role in bringing chronic hepatitis C (CHC), which eventually leads to liver tissue death (necrosis). CHC patients have ferritin levels of over 150 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml).
In addition, for every one percent increase in ferritin, it has been found there is a four percent increase in heart attack risk. Ferritin levels of 200 ng/ml or more at least double the relative risk of heart attack.
The effect of increased level of iron deposits in the liver both adversely affects the liver as well as the heart. Next week, you will learn how therapeutic phlebotomy helps both. (0927-872-3821 or email to zim_breakthroughs@yahoo.com)
