Iron Metabolism, Hemolytic Anemia, and Thalassemia

Excerpt

This issue of the Journal begins a two-part symposium on the subject of benign hematology. Six articles will be presented in two consecutive issues to address a wide range of disorders that are of vital importance to the practicing pediatrician or hematologist. The significance of these disorders is diminished by the term “benign,” which is misleading. While the disorders are not malignant or cancerous, they are associated with serious morbidity and affect the quality of life of millions of individuals of all ages. The inherited forms of these disorders, such as thalassemias, sickle cell disease and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, are the most common single-gene disorders in humans observed in 5 lac new births annually. The inherited and acquired bleeding or thrombotic diatheses are frequently encountered as primary entities or complicating a concurrent illness that requires expert clinical and laboratory management. Nutritional anemia is a vast public health crisis that cannot be solved without advocacy by the national physician associations. …