thalassemia

thalassemia is a topic covered in the Taber's Medical Dictionary.

To view the entire topic, please or .

Nursing Central is an award-winning, complete mobile solution for nurses and students. Look up information on diseases, tests, and procedures; then consult the database with 5,000+ drugs or refer to 65,000+ dictionary terms. Explore these free sample topics:

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

(thal″ă-sē′mē-ă)

To hear audio pronunciation of this topic, purchase a subscription or log in.

[Gr. thalassa, sea + -emia]
Any of a group of hereditary anemias occurring in populations bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in Southeast Asia. Anemia is produced by either a defective production rate of the alpha or beta hemoglobin polypeptide chain or a decreased synthesis of the beta chain. Heterozygotes are usually asymptomatic. The severity in homozygotes varies according to the complexity of the inheritance pattern, but thalassemia may be fatal.
SEE: sickle cell anemia

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or --

(thal″ă-sē′mē-ă)

To hear audio pronunciation of this topic, purchase a subscription or log in.

[Gr. thalassa, sea + -emia]
Any of a group of hereditary anemias occurring in populations bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in Southeast Asia. Anemia is produced by either a defective production rate of the alpha or beta hemoglobin polypeptide chain or a decreased synthesis of the beta chain. Heterozygotes are usually asymptomatic. The severity in homozygotes varies according to the complexity of the inheritance pattern, but thalassemia may be fatal.
SEE: sickle cell anemia

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.