Clinically Important Variants of Human Hemoglobin

RECOGNITION of the role of human hemoglobin variants in the pathogenesis of disorders associated with sickling and with thalassemia constituted one of the most important advances in hematology during the last 20 years. More recent has been the realization that variants of human hemoglobin may be associated with other clinical syndromes: variants having altered oxygen equilibria, such as the M hemoglobins, may produce cyanosis or erythrocytosis, whereas unstable variants are associated with congenital Heinz-body anemias.In few fields of clinical investigation can one so clearly relate the clinical presentation of the patient to the molecular aspects of his disorder. However, . . .