my husband who has metastatic prostate cancer was just told his iron level was 59 and his serum ferritin level is 1000. He has just stopped 7 treatments of chemo.
Is there anything we can use to lower the ferritin level, the Dr has ordered an iron infusion. He feels its chemo induced anemia and we are trying to get into a trial. So confused !
My husband had an unexplained sky high ferritin level after a Shockwave gone bad procedure. It was so high in his case that they were looking at bone marrow involvement and some pretty esoteric blood disorders.
Thankfully, it came down in a few days. The onco hematologist concluded it was an extreme stress/inflammation reaction. She said for some reason there is a subset of people who will spike these wildly high ferritin levels after a kidney insult. Hope it turns out to be the same for you guys.
It's ironic that he has low iron & very high ferritin, given that elevated ferritin is usually taken as a sign of iron overload.
My doctor was concerned about my levels some years ago. I underwent phlebotomy sessions to bring my level below 100.
-Patrick
How are his liver enzymes? Sometimes chemo can cause liver damage, which will increase ferritin. (Ferritin is the protein, stored in the liver, that absorbs iron) .It should come down on its own as the liver recovers. Avoid taking anything or doing anything without your doctor's advice. He'll probably just want to watch it.
Definitely go to your doctor asap. Those levels are not normal and, as others have pointed out, it could be dangerous. Get tests and scans done to see how his liver is doing.
the Dr who wants him to have an iron infusion
Not sure. Which test would it be
Liver panel includes ALT, AST, ALP, albumin, bilirubin.
Hasn't been taken since Jan 23 but they were within normal range. Alp this month was 131. First Dr never took iron
Now seeing Dr Tagawa and having from iron infusion
But Jan 23 was pre-chemo. Anyway, he's in good hands with Dr Tagawa.
Just checked again 6/10 all normal but acid phosphate. Was 6.5
This article has some info about "unexplained" high ferritin levels:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
It seems that a level of transferrin saturation could help to progress in the diagnosis process.
Hi Tango,
Useful paper.
My integrative medicine doc preferred ferritin, rather that the other iron-related tests in a standard blood panel. When I asked why (because my iron status looked good, apart from ferritin), he said that the other tests "lied".
He thought that my regular doctor was remiss in ignoring my elevated ferritin.
I hadn't been on chemo (or even ADT), & I have no idea why my ferritin was high. I read one paper that said that men with PCa often had low ferritin.
IMO, one shouldn't assume that one's doctor has figured out why ferritin is elevated.
I'd also be worried if told that I needed an "iron infusion".
-Patrick
While doing a random blood test, my husband's Doctor found that he had a Ferritin level of 908. Test showed it was not hemachromatosis. Thinking it may be his liver, she had a CT scan done which showed lymphadenopathy and enlarged prostate. He was sent to a urologist who did a PSA test and it was 275 (he hadn't ever had a PSA test.) Diagnosed with gleason 9 prostate cancer with several enlarged lymph nodes including the para-aorta lymph nodes.No bone involvement. With the cancer diagnosis, the ferritin level was ignored. From my reading, during a major illness such as cancer or other diseases such as aids, the body sequesters the iron to prevent the illness from having access to the iron stores. I also found a study that recommends testing ferritin along with the PSA to more accurately diagnose prostate cancer.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
He still has high ferritin, but no doctors here in Canada are interested in finding the reason, So perhaps the cancer is the cause.
I am curious, what age is your husband? Did they test iron levels & saturation after noticing the high ferritin levels? Since it is a pretty non-specific market wondering what led doctors to suspect liver and do imaging from that one test? I hope he is doing well from his PC.
You are Godsent...........
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Sunday 06/16/2019 10:39 PM DST
Hi, I was reading your post with interest, I have had a serum ferritin reading of over 1000 increased from 600 in last 7 weeks, have no idea why, your post suggested you husband had a reading of over 1000, I would be interested in what happened and how they treated that if at all, and more importantly why did they think it went up so high? Sorry for this late reply as I have only just seen your post.
Thanks Al
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