Hepatic Hemosiderin Deposits

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Abstract
The diagnosis of hemochromatosis may be suspected when there is hepatomegaly, diabetes, and skin pigmentation, with or without gonadal atrophy.1,2Traditionally, confirmation has depended on the demonstration of hemosiderin in sections of skin2or in epithelial cells in the urine sediment.3With the introduction of needle biopsy of the liver, direct diagnosis of this condition seemed available.4,5Indeed, several investigators4-6have emphasized the value of needle biopsy in the diagnosis of this disease. Hepatic hemosiderin deposits, however, are found in other diseases as well as in the constitutional disease, hemochromatosis.1,2,7-10Large amounts of iron-containing pigment have been demonstrated in the livers of patients with refractory or hemolytic anemia receiving multiple blood transfusions11and/or therapeutic doses of iron salts,12in South African natives suffering from Kwashiorkor,13and in alcoholic patients with cirrhosis.1,2,7-10,14 In an attempt to appraise the significance of increased