I have looked for info in my drug book and online and in this stack of books here, but I can't find the ever so simple answer to this question...

What is the normal range for iron saturation %?

Anyone that knows please please have mercy on my tired rear and tell me! I had to get assigned this patient of 100 unusual lab tests and this is the only one I am stuck on. Thanks a bazillion!

Are you talking about SaO2? Anything above 92 is generally ok with acceptable perfusion, unless an ARDS or COPD pt, they can have much lower. Make sure you don't have a low H&H, as a high SaO2 can be very deceiving.

i found this in my lab test book.......

"laboratory and diagnostic test with nursing implications" by joyce lefever kee, p. 268

iron, total iron binding capacity (tibc)

normal range for serum iron for an adult is 50-150 mg/dl (not miligrams either. ... it's that funny m thing and i can't think of the name of it right now. :chuckle )

TIBC is 250-450 mg/dl (again with the m thing)

elderly is 60-80 mg/dl serum iron and

average daily iron intake should be 10-20 mg (milligrams). TIBC measures the maximum amount of iron that can bind to the protein transferrin.

decreased levels of serum iron could be iron deficiency anemia, cancer of the stomach, intestine, rectum, breast; bleeding peptic ulcer; protein malnutrition; blood loss; burns.

decreased levels of TIBC could be hemochromatosis, anemias, hypoproteinemia, renal failure, cirrhosis, infections, GI cancers

drug influences could be cortisone preps, dextran, testosterone

elevated levels of serum iron could be caused by hemochromatosis, anemias, liver damage, thalassemia, lead toxicity

elevated levels of TIBC could be microcytic anemia, acute and chronic blood loss, polycythemia

drug influences could be from oral contraceptives

does this help?

MU?????? is it MU??????? that funny little m thing?

it's late. :chuckle don't hold my ignorance against me. :chuckle

**iron saturation

serum transferrin saturation

transferrin iron saturation

transferrin saturation

serum iron to tibc ratio

**calculation

tfs = 100 x serum iron (ug/dl) / tibc (ug/dl)

**normal range:

15% to 55%

**decreased

-chronic iron deficiency anemia

-chronic infection

-advanced malignancy

-collagen-vascular disease

-uremia

-third trimester of pregnancy

**increased

-hemochromatosis and other iron overload

-hemolytic anemia

-starvation

-nephrotic syndrome

-cirrhosis

-acute viral hepatitis

-thalassemia minor

-megaloblastic anemia

-aplastic anemia or sideroblastic anemia

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this one is a foreign site... but it gives an explanation...........

http://www.svls.se/sektioner/sfkk/keynumb/a-483.htm

hope this helps!!!

Thanks everyone! It was the percentage thingy that Christine gave. My patient's level was 5. I knew that it was probably low, but I didn't know how low!