Iron, Total & Total Iron Binding Capacity

The test called “Iron, Total and Total Iron Binding Capacity” helps doctors figure out if someone has too little iron, which can cause a condition called iron-deficiency anemia, or too much iron, known as hemochromatosis. When doctors measure how much iron is in the blood, they can tell if the low iron levels are because of a lack of iron or because of other health problems like infections or cancer-related conditions.

This test also looks at something called total iron binding capacity (TIBC). This measures how much iron could be carried in the blood if all the iron-carrying proteins, known as transferrin, were full of iron. It’s like checking how many seats are available on a bus if all seats were to be filled. This number helps doctors understand how much transferrin is in the blood, but they talk about it in terms of iron.

To find out how much of the transferrin is actually carrying iron, doctors divide the amount of iron in the blood by the TIBC number. This calculation gives them the percent saturation. If the percent saturation is low, it means there isn’t enough iron being carried around, which is common in iron-deficiency anemia. If it’s high, it means there’s too much iron being stored, which happens in conditions like hemochromatosis.