Secondary hemochromatosis
Secondary hemochromatosis can arise in many disorders, inborn or acquired. These disorders have in common the fact that the patient is anemic. Transfusions of erythrocytes add, nearly stoichiomrtrically, to the body iron burden: each milliliter of red cells contains one milligram of iron.
When anemia is accompanied by ineffective erythropoiesis, inappropriate absorption of iron from the gastrointestinal tract seems to be activated. Patients with anemias in which ineffective erythropoiesis does not play a role seem much less prone to hyperabsorb iron. Thus, it is patients with ineffective erythropoiesis who develop the largest iron burdens. Among the hereditary forms, the most common are the thalassemias; among the acquired forms, the acquired sideroblastic anemias predominate. Table 2 lists some of the disease with which hemochromatosis has been associated.