Consensus statement reports distinct diagnostic thresholds for body iron overload in haemochromatosis, highlighting the continuum of minimal, modest, and severe tissue storage.
The precise frequency of the different iron overload states due to haemochromatosis (HC) is unknown and need to be addressed in population studies ( 1. Bacon BR Powell LW Adams PC Kresina TF Hoofnagle JH Molecular medicine and haemochromatosis: at the crossroads. Gastroenterology. 1999; 116: 193-207 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (268) Google Scholar , 2. Pietrangelo A Haemochromatosis 1998: is one gene enough?. J Hepatol. 1998; 29: 502-509 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar ). The appropriate terminology for different iron overload states along the continuum is given below. The expert panel considers it both appropriate and feasible to define an over-accumulation state distinct from haemochromatosis. “Excess body iron storage” (iron overload) [haemosiderosis=iron staining in tissues] may be: i) Minimal: ∼1.5g (hepatic iron concentration, HIC, >30 μM/g) (?pathological significance: e.g. porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT); ii) Modest: 2–5 g (HIC>100 μM/g; serum ferritin approx 500 μg/l) (seen in chronic liver disease, haemolytic disorders, PCT, etc.); iii) Severe: >5 g (HIC >200 μM/g; serum ferritin approx 750 μg/l).
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Adams et al. (2000) studied this question.
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