ACTUAL ASPECTS IN DIAGNOSIS OF HEREDITARY HEMOCHROMATOSIS

Hereditary hemochromatosis is one of the most frequent inherited disea ses. It is determined by an increased intestinal absorption with conse cutive iron overload and loss of function of different parenchymal org ans as liver and pancreas. In case of early diagnosis and therapy prog nosis of hereditary hemochromatosis is excellent. The recent discovery of the hereditary hemochromatosis candidate gene HLA-H and the availa bility of a genetic test open new aspects in the diagnosis of the dise ase which will be reviewed here.