Compartmentalization of iron in sickle cell anemia--an autopsy study.

In autopsy studies of two sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients, iron was totally absent from all organs in one case in which the serum ferritin had been low, while the other patient demonstrated hepatic, splenic, and renal siderosis but no iron stores in the bone marrow. Serum ferritin had been very high in this case. These findings suggest that in SCA bone marrow biopsy may be an unreliable means to determine iron stores, but rather the ferritin level should be used.