Classification and diagnosis of iron overload

Background and Objective. Iron overload is the result of many disorders and could lead to the development of organ damage and increased mortality. The recent description of new conditions associated with Iron overload and the identification of the genetic defect of hereditary hemochromatosis prompted us to review this subject and to redefine the diagnostic criteria of iron overload disorders. Evidence and Information sources. The material examined in the present review includes articles published in the journals covered by the Science Citation Index and Medline. The author has been working in the field of Iron overload diseases for several years and has contributed ten of the papers cited in the references. State of the art and Perspectives. Iron overload can be classified on the basis of different criteria: route of access of Iron within the organism, predominant tissue site of iron accumulation and cause of the overload. Excess iron can gain access by the enteral route, the parentera...