Acute Blood Loss Anemia

Traumatic injury followed by critical illness provokes pathophysiologic changes in the bone marrow and the gut that contribute to persistent anemia and changes in the microbiome which significantly impact long-term recovery. This project will define the interactions between the stress, chronic inflammation, bone marrow dysfunction, and an altered microbiome which will provide a strong foundation for future clinical interventions to help improve outcomes following severe trauma.

Acute blood loss in orthopaedic trauma and operative fracture care contributes substantially to perioperative anemia, which places participants at increased risk for complications including surgical site infection, cardiovascular complications, and even death. Anemia has further clinical implications in quality of life measures and is associated with fatigue, impaired physical performance, decreased exercise capacity, and mood disturbances. Thus, evaluation and treatment of perioperative anemia is critical in risk mitigation within orthopaedic surgery. The current standard of care for anemia is transfusion of packed red blood cells in only cases of severe anemia due to the substantial associated risks. A safer alternative is desirable because a critical number of participants do not meet the restrictive transfusion threshold and may suffer negative effects from anemia during recovery from the acute insult. The focus of this project is to pilot an investigation of the benefits of intravenous iron therapy (IVIT) in traumatically injured patients. Specifically, Aim I will determine feasibility of study design, recruitment, randomization, intervention implementation, blinded procedures, and retention. In Aim II, time to return to normal hemoglobin following traumatic orthopaedic injury will be assessed. With Aim III, the investigators will measure IVIT effect on participant-reported fatigue, physical function, and depression, and further determine if resolution of anemia is correlated to improvements in these measures in traumatically injured orthopaedic patients. Aim IV will focus on evaluating the role of IVIT on immune cells through a variety of novel laboratory assessments. The investigators expect this study to provide a better understanding of IVIT, which has the potential to alter providers' treatment approach of anemia in participants who sustain traumatic orthopaedic injury, thereby leading to decreased risks and improved recovery.