Observational Study of Iron Metabolism in Anemia in ICU and Post-Operative Patients, Role of Hepcidin

Anemia in intensive care and post-operative patients is due to both blood loss (leading to iron loss) and inflammation. The latter is known to interfere with iron metabolism, inducing iron storage instead of using it for hemoglobin synthesis. The discover of a new regulatory hormone of iron metabolism, hepcidin, may help us to better understand the link between inflammation and iron functional deficit. The aim of our study is to observe the variation of usual iron metabolism biological markers and of hepcidin, in order to define the better marker of iron loss in these clinical situations.