Summary
Quantitative tissue iron determinations on liver are reported in a patient with Laennec's cirrhosis and bleeding esophageal varices, in whom a state pathologically indistinguishable from familial hemochromatosis developed 3 1/2 years after an end-to-side portacaval shunt. This is the first report of such measurements. Although the iron content of the liver was increased 12.9-fold over normal, the amount of iron observed was far less than the amounts normally found in patients with classic familial hemochromatosis. Attention is drawn to the fact that only patients with end-to-side portacaval shunts, as opposed to side-to-side shunts, have been reported to have developed excess iron deposition in the tissues.
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We would like to thank Mr. Morris Auerbach of the Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute, who performed the chemical analysis of tissue iron.
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Grace, N.D., Balint, J.A. Hemochromatosis associated with end-to-side portacaval anastomosis. Digest Dis Sci 11, 351–358 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233629
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233629