Serum iron levels in siderosis due to habitually excessive iron intake.

Previous reports from South Africa have drawn attention to the heavy iron intake, and to the high frequency of hemosiderin deposition in the liver and other organs of the indigenous Bantu population (1, 2). In addition, observations in different Bantu population groups have demonstrated elevated levels of serum iron and total iron binding capacity in Bantu adults of both sexes. Saturation is very rarely observed in contrast to findings in idiopathic hemochromatosis (3). In view of these observations it was considered worth while to determine how far serum iron levels reflected the extent-of siderosis in a hospitalized population group in this area. Since it is our experience that the severity of hepatic siderosis correlates well with the degree of visceral siderosis elsewhere in the body, the present paper represents our findings in a small series of patients in whom both liver biopsies and serum iron determinations were carried out.