HB GUNMA (BETA(GUNMA)) WITH PULMONARY-EMBOLISM

A 67-year-old woman with pulmonary embolism was suspected to have beta -thalassemia based on microcytosis, hemolysis and a negative red cell stability test, The DNA sequencing analysis of beta-globin gene, howev er, revealed the deletion of three nucleotides within codon 127-128, l eading to substitution of glutamine and alanine residues at 127 and 12 8 by proline, namely Hb Gunma, This mutant is characterized by the fac t that no abnormal hemoglobin is detected in the circulating blood, an d is classified as a thalassemic hemoglobinopathy, The present case sh owed a relatively hemolytic manifestation.