Hemochromatosis and Hemosiderosis

Both cirrhosis of the liver and hemochromatosis have been observed to be unusally frequent in this hospital¹,²; an incidence of hemochromatosis of 1 in approximately 800 hospital deaths contrasts with a reported incidence of 1 in 7,000 hospital deaths.³Because of this high incidence, and because of the frequent occurrence of hepatic carcinoma in patients with hemochromatosis, the present study was undertaken. Hemosiderosis as well as hemochromatosis was included in order to examine all diseases characterized morphologically by abnormal iron storage. Review Excellent reviews of the literature of hemochromatosis are available in the work of Sheldon,⁴and of Finch and Finch,³so that no attempt is made here to repeat their surveys. Sheldon reviewed 311 cases that he considered acceptable, up to 1935, and Finch and Finch found an additional 707 histologically proven cases between the years 1935 to 1954, to which they added 80 cases studied by them, so