Blood, 1958, Vol. 13, No. 8, pp. 803-810.
© 1958 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Survival Studies of Thalassemic Erythrocytes Transfused
into Donors, into Subjects with Thalassemia Minor
and into Normal and Splenectomized Subjects
C. VULLO 1 and
A. M. TUNIOLI 1
1 Department of Pediatrics (Director, Professor E. Schwarz Tiene), University
of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. Presented in part at two meetings of the Italian Society of
Hematology, Ferrara Section, Ferrara, October 1956, and December 1957.
The analysis of the curves of thalassemic red cell survival studied in children suffering from thalassemia major, in subjects with thalassemia minor,
in normal splenectomized subjects and in healthy persons shows:
(a) thalassemic erythrocytes show a marked shortening of life span,
with a wide range of half life from case to case;
(b) thalassemic erythrocytes survive longer in patients with thalassemia
major and minor than in normal subjects;
(c) the behavior of thalassemic erythrocyte survival curves in the anemic
patients and in the normal splenectomized cases is almost similar. On the
basis of these results, the authors emphasize that:
(1) valuable data on the seriousness of the hemolytic process in
thalassemia major can be drawn only from autotransfusion studies;
(2) in both thalassemia major and minor the spleen has less hemolytic
activity on thalassemic red cells than in normal subjects;
(3) since survival curves between anemic and normal subjects differ
principally in the initial component where the most abnormal red cells are
destroyed by the normal spleen, it is probable that the spleen of Patients with
thalassemia major is not so greatly active against these cells.
Submitted on November 27, 1956
Accepted on January 28, 1958
