Population screening for beta-thalassaemia.
The graphic recording of time to 50% haemolysis in a glycerine-saline solution is a simple, reproducible method of determining erythrocyte osmotic fragility. Studies on a normal population yielded an upper limit of normal of 90 s. In 250 healthy males from Northern Thailand all 19 with beta-thalassaemia minor had abnormal osmotic indices, and the value of the test was confirmed in beta-thalassaemia heterozygotes in Europe. Of 23 patients with iron deficiency 18 had abnormal osmotic indices. However, this is not thought likely to be a significant source of false positives in the screening of populations at risk of haemoglobinopathies but in whom iron deficiency is rare.[1]References
- Population screening for beta-thalassaemia. Flatz, S.D., Flatz, G. Lancet (1980) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
