Juvenile iron overload-Advances, but no answers

Abstract

Letter to the Editor "I refer to an article published in The Journal in March 1987, in which the authors described a 10-year-old boy with idiopathic hemochromatosis. 1 A liver biopsy showed cirrhosis and parenchymal cell stainable iron grade 4. The hepatic iron concentration was 292.9 μmol/g. Treatment with phlebotomy and desferrioxamine caused the serum ferritin concentration to decrease to 1800 μg/L within 3 months, at which time the case report was published. Recently, the same person—now 29 years old—attended my clinic, and I am pleased to provide further information on the case to your readership. His venesection therapy has continued, and he remains well with a normal serum ferritin concentration and abdominal ultrasound scan...