My friend had blood work that showed almost no ferritin and is very anemic. She had a colonoscopy which MD said was OK. She then had a upper endoscopy (MD looking at celiac disease ). She saw on her chart that the doctor wrote malignant neoplasm and she has a MD appointment next week. Could he be suspecting something or is this a normal request on a biopsy from the procedure.
Hi there, being anemic and low ferritin levels suggests that either the patient is taking less of iron rich food, losing more iron from the body than that which is being replaced like having occult bleeding as may be the case from her GIT or could be due to decreased uptake or absorption of normally ingested iron in food. As your history suggests that she is undergoing upper GI endoscopy and the doctor suspects malignancy or cancer I would deduct that she is losing blood from her upper gastrointestinal tract which is causing her anemia and low ferritin levels. Let the biopsy report come, and you will be more in the clear about the cause. In the meanwhile she may require Iron supplements either oral or in injectable form depending on the severity of her anemia. Take care.