All issues > Volume 38(6); 1995

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1995;38(6):867-871. Published online June 15, 1995.

Two Cases of Familial β-Thalassemia Minor

Jeong Hwa JH Hwang¹, Hyeon Jeong HJ Lee¹, Jun J Hur¹, Gae Soon GS Yeo¹, Hee Jin HJ Kim¹, Chan Yung CY Kim¹, Tae Jun TJ Yun²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Choon-Hae Hospital, Pusan, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, Choon-Hae Hospital, Pusan, Korea

Abstract

The β-thalassemia minor is a hereditary microcytic, hypochromic anemia characterized by decerased producion of β-globin polypeptide chain. The β-thalassemia minor should be clinically differentiated from iron deficiency anemia. The thalassemia are common in the Medeterranean region, the Middle Ease, the Africa, Indea, and Thailand, but rare in Korea. The authors experienced two cases of familial β-thalassemia minor 4-year 7-month-old female patient and her mother. The peripheral blood smear and hemoglobin electrophoresis of the patient and her mother revealed the findings of decreased MCV(57.8fl, 65.3gl), MCH(17.1pg, 19.7pg), microcytic hypochromic erythrocytes, poikilocytosis, anisocytosis, and elevated percentage of Hb A2 fraction (5.9%, 7.0%) A brief review of related literatures was added.

Keywords :β-Thalassemia minor