Iron deposition in liver is a major finding in thalassemic patients and because of direct iron toxicity to
liver it is associated with several consequences for example liver fibrosis. Liver biopsies from 63 patients
were evaluated, 40 (63.5%) were male and 20 (36.5%) were female. The mean age of the patients was
8.01 ± 3.7 and the age range was from 1.8 to 15 years. Histologic grading and staging was performed
for each case according to modified HAI (Hepatitis Activity Index) system. Iron scoring was performed
according to Sindram & Marx and MTK1–3 scoring systems. The mean (SD) dry weight (dw) of liver
specimens was 1.34 (0.11) mg (range 0.20 to 3.80 mg). The mean (SD) of hepatic iron concentration was
230.9 (121.2) mol/g dry weight. The relationship between the variables HIC, HII (hepatic iron index)
and all histological gradings of iron (S&M and MTK1–3) was very strong. The relationship between the
HIC and staging by HAI method was good. Significant differences were identified between the mean HIC
in scores 1&2 of all histological iron scorings (S&M and MTK1–3), but no significant differences identified
between mean HIC in other adjacent scores in all histological iron scorings (S&M and MTK1, 2 and 3).
New scoring system introduced by us in this study which considered size and density of iron granules as
well as zone of iron deposition was very much the same as simple Sindram and Marx classification.