[Sideroblastic anemia: clinical and hematological study on 57 patients]

Sideroblastic anemias (SA) are a heterogeneous group of hematologic disorders marked by a defect of heme synthesis, disturbance of iron metabolism and the presence of ringed sideroblasts. 57 cases of SA, including 23 primary and 34 secondary forms, are discussed. In the group of secondary SA 13 patients were alcoholics, 3 had received chloramphenicol, 2 had lead poisoning, 2 had received busulfan and 2 had immune hemolytic anemia. In some cases serum ferritin was found to be excessively high. The caryotype of one patient presented deletion of the long arm on chromosome 20. None of the patients with primary SA responded to vitamin treatment, and 3 developed a myeloproliferative syndrome.