The data in the present study provide evidence that elevated plasma factor VIII levels are associated with increased risk of thrombosis in children: thus, plasma concentration of factor VIII should be measured in all children with TE.

This study was designed to propose a more practical, effective, safer, inexpensive, and manageable alternative treatment of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) for the developing countries. The study involves 94 children between the ages of 5 months and 6 years who had been seen in the authors' hospital and diagnosed as having iron deficiency anemia. Ninety-four children with IDA were randomly divided into two groups: 48 children comprised the first group, which was administered conventional treatment, and 46 children comprised the second group, which was administered intermittent treatment involving iron administration 2 days a week. Twenty-three children whose age and gender distribution were compatible with the other groups were included in the study as the control group. Both groups were reevaluated for their initial hematologic parameters at the end of the treatment. When the parameters of both groups were compared with the parameters of the control group after the treatment, there were no differences between hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, serum iron, and ferritin levels of conventional and intermittent treatment groups. With respect to certain parameters, such as red cell distribution, serum iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, transferrin receptor, and transferrin receptor/log ferritin, however, intermittent treatment was superior to the conventional treatment method (p <.05). In IDA, when a conventional treatment method or an intermittent treatment method is used, there are no differences between the hematological parameters. In fact, the intermittent treatment method has been found to be superior in many parameters.

A 13-year-old female patient with the diagnosis of retinal artery occlusion was evaluated for thrombophilia. The data revealed high FVIII and FIX levels. The patient had familial clustering. The data indicate that elevated FVIII and FIX could be a risk factor for thrombosis.

Iron-deficiency anemia may be a factor contributing to breath-holding spells. The serum transferrin receptor provides a useful measure of tissue iron deficiency. In this study of 50 breath-holders, while iron-deficiency anemia was detected in 28 (56%) of patients with routine tests, serum transferrin receptor levels were found increased in all patients. A positive correlation was detected between serum soluble transferrin receptor levels and frequency of attacks. It is suggested that the serum transferrin receptor level is useful as a single test for identification of iron deficiency in breath-holders. Moreover, if iron deficiency can be diagnosed earlier, then patients can be treated earlier.

The spontaneous occurrence of hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and beta-thalassemia in the same patient is a rare event. The mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration is elevated above the reference range in half to two-thirds of patients with HS, but there are no data for the HS/beta-thal combinations for the red blood cell indexes. This study reassessed these values in these particular patients. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell distribution (RDW), and reticulocyte count were documented from 43 HS patients, 13 of which were from 10 families with the combination of beta-thal and HS; 28 controls were also included. Patients with HS/beta-thal have a significantly lower MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and MCHC and a significantly higher RDW than normal control subjects; 95% of beta-thalassemia carriers are free of clinical symptoms. When red blood cell indexes reveal a possibility of a beta-thalassemia carrier state with the symptoms of hemolytic anemia, HS should be considered.