title: Iron overload despite partial gastrectomy.
abstract: Iron overload was found in 3 patients who had undergone partial gastrectomy: a 61-year-old woman developed iron overload because she may have had idiopathic haemochromatosis and had also been given parenteral iron; in a 62-year-old man with thalassaemia minor, iron overload may have developed because of increased oral iron ingestion, low serum folate, increased, albeit ineffective, erythropoiesis and sideroblastic anaemia; a 74-year-old man with thalassaemia minor developed iron overload without exogenous therapy and died from a hepatoma. These cases illustrate that partial gastrectomy fails to protect patients from developing iron overload, particularly if given uncontrolled iron therapy.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006432:Hemochromatosis / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000150:complications