Definition
- Disorder of iron storage
- Increased intestinal iron absorption
- Deposition of excessive amounts of iron in parenchymal cells leading to tissue damage
- Liver, heart, pancreas, joints, and skin are most commonly affected.
- Hereditary hemochromatosis
- Most often caused by inheritance of a mutant gene (HFE gene)
- In early stages (when iron overload and organ damage are minimal), disease is referred to as early hemochromatosis or precirrhotic hemochromatosis.
- Secondary iron overload
- Tissue injury secondary to an iron-loading anemia such as thalassemia or sideroblastic anemia
- Massive iron deposits in parenchymal tissues can lead to the same clinical and pathologic features as in hemochromatosis.
- Hemosiderosis is the term used to describe increased amounts of stainable iron, but the condition is not associated with tissue damage.
Hemochromatosis has been found in Harrison's Practice
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