What type of anemia might be indicated in a patient with bloody diarrhea and elevated sedimentation rate?

The presence of bloody diarrhea and an elevated sedimentation rate suggests an underlying inflammatory process, which is often seen in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In these scenarios, normocytic anemia is commonly observed.

Normocytic anemia is characterized by a normal mean corpuscular volume (MCV), indicating that the red blood cells are of normal size. However, despite their normal size, the patient may not have enough red blood cells due to chronic inflammation or a decreased production of erythropoietin, a hormone produced by the kidneys that stimulates red blood cell production.

In cases of inflammatory conditions leading to blood loss through the gastrointestinal tract, such as in ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, the anemia that develops is typically normocytic. This occurs because the body is losing blood, leading to decreased red blood cell mass, while the cells that are produced tend to remain normal in size due to the absence of specific deficiencies in iron, vitamin B12, or folate, which would lead to other types of anemia, such as microcytic or macrocytic anemia.

This context helps clarify why the choice of normocytic anemia is appropriate given the clinical signs of bloody diarrhea and inflammation indicated by the elevated sedimentation