Skin iron concentration: a simple, highly sensitive method for iron stores evaluation in thalassemia patients

Iron overload is a potentially fatal complication in thalassemia patients. Accurate assessment of body iron is of utmost importance for these patients. The available methods for iron stores evaluation have limitations. We assessed biochemically the skin iron concentration (SIC) and determined the relation between the hepatic and skin iron level in thalassemia major patients to develop a simple, sensitive, quantitative measure of the body iron stores. Thirty-one cases with thalassemia major were assessed for iron overload. Liver and skin biopsies were performed for the patients and skin biopsies were taken from the 31 controls. The biopsies were subjected to biochemical assay of iron and histologic sections were examined. The SIC of the studied cases was significantly higher than that of the control group with a mean of 2.705 +/- 1.14 and 0.275 +/- 0.13 mg/g dry skin weight, respectively, p < 0.001. There was significant correlation between the SIC and the liver iron concentration (LIC) (r = 0.43, p = 0.01). The amount of liver iron is equivalent to [(3.5 x SIC) + 12.9]. With the use of this equation, we could reliably estimate an LIC value as high as 21.2 mg/g dry liver weight with a standard error of 4.07. Biochemical assay of the skin iron concentration is a reliable quantitative indicator of the body iron stores in patients with thalassemia major.