Alpha thalassemia (Hemoglobin H disease)
This Southeast Asian woman gave birth to an hydropic stillborn fetus with Hb Bart’s, a 4-gene a–globin deletion.
She has hemoglobin H disease, a 3-gene a–globin deletion. The Wright-stained blood smear on the left
shows a microcytic, hypochromic anemia with poikilocytosis. The right photo shows the golf-ball appearance
elicited by methylene blue staining. The stained granules are denatured hemoglobin H.
1 minute clinical correlation
Back to hematopathology section