Effects of Vitamin B12 treatment on hematological parameters

Introduction: Vitamin B12 deficiency is not a rare condition in medical practice. There is not much data in literature about overlooked hemogram parameters (ie. red cell distribution width, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width) in vitamin B12 deficiency. We aimed to compare pre and post treatment hematological parameters of patients with vitamin B12 deficiency in present retrospective study.Methodology: Patients with vitamin B12 deficiency icluded to the study. Age, gender, vitamin B12 levels and hematological parameters, such as, white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil count (neu), lymphocyte count (lym), eosinophil count (eos), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Htc), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), red cell distribution width (RDW), platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) were recorded.Results: Pretreatment RDW (16.5±0.6) was significantly higher than in posttreatment (16.1±1) period (p=0.021). MPV was significantly lower in pretreatment period (8.5±1.1) than in posttreatment (9±1.1) period (p=0.025).Conclusion: We suggest that RDW and MPV alterations begin in early stages of Vitamin B12 deficiency before development of cytopenias. However, to confirm our results, prospective studies with a larger cohort are needed.