Transfusional siderosis and liver cirrhosis
Open Access
- 1 September 1969
- journal article
- research article
- Published by BMJ in Journal of Clinical Pathology
- Vol. 22 (5), 567-572
- https://doi.org/10.1136/jcp.22.5.567
Abstract
In the present study, cirrhosis of the liver was found in one of six cases of transfusional siderosis. The relationship between iron overload and cirrhosis is discussed and the suggestion is made that factors other than iron deposition may have been responsible for the hepatic fibrosis. Three patients with a greater degree of iron overload, and for a longer period, did not develop fibrosis or cirrhosis. The possibility remains that iron absorbed from the gut and stored in excess without having passed through the haemoglobin molecule or the reticuloendothelial system may be toxic, as cases have been reported in which cirrhosis of the liver was attributed to prolonged iron medication. The cirrhosis in idiopathic haemochromatosis may be due to lack of an unknown hepatic cell enzyme, as in galactosaemia, and the increased iron absorption may be a concomitant finding. Transfusional or secondary haemochromatosis is not a definite entity, and the liver cirrhosis is probably due to causes other than the excess deposition of haemosiderin.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Excessive Oral Iron Therapy Causing HaemochromatosisBMJ, 1965
- Hemochromatosis and hemosiderosis. Study of 211 autopsied cases.1960
- Iron absorption. II. The absorption of radioiron administered with a standard meal in man.1958
- The Absorption of Radioiron Labeled Foods and Iron Salts in Normal and Iron-Deficient Subjects and in Idiopathic HemochromatosisJCI Insight, 1957
- Acquired haemochromatosis following multiple blood-transfusions for hypoplastic anaemia.1956
- Galactosemia, a congenital defect in a nucleotide transferaseBiochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1956
- IDIOPATHIC HEMOCHROMATOSIS, AN IRON STORAGE DISEASEMedicine, 1955
- IRON METABOLISMBlood, 1950
- The late results of intravenous injection of colloidal ironThe Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 1930
- Beiträge zur Kenntniss der pathologischen PigmenteVirchows Archiv, 1888