Symptoms of Iron Overload

Last reviewed by Dr.Mary on July 27th, 2011.

Iron overload is the anomalous iron buildup in the parenchymal organs due to any cause, resulting to organ toxicity. The accumulation of excess iron damages the body organs and if left untreated, the disease progresses, causing various vital organs to fail such as the liver, pancreas and the heart.


Iron overload can be classified into many different clinical presentations. It can be classified under Primary Hemochromatosis which is primarily inherited or Secondary Hemochromatosis which is primarily due to anemia, alcohol abuse and other medical conditions. Two additional forms of this disease are Juvenile and Neonatal hemochromatosis.

Signs and symptoms

Affected individuals may be asymptomatic especially during the initial stages of the disease process. In some cases, the disease is accompanied by general and organ-related signs early on.

Patients may begin experiencing the clinical manifestations between 30 to 50 years of age, however early occurrence may also be possible.

Majority of the cases are asymptomatic, approximately about 75% and are diagnosed only after noting an abnormally increased serum iron levels in routine blood chemistry examination. 25% of the affected individuals may experience early manifestations such as severe exhaustion, sexual dysfunction, arthralgia, skin hyperpigmentation or skin bronzing and liver enlargement. Other clinical syndromes include diabetes mellitus due to pancreatic islet cell failure, arthropathy, amenorrhea and cardiomyopathy.

Skin bronzing

Skin bronzing or hyperpigmentation is due to the combination of iron deposition and melanin. It is one of the classic triad symptom which only appear later in the disease process, when the sum total of iron content in the body is equivalent to 20 grams or more than five times the normal iron level.

Arthropathy

If the join tissues are affected by the retention of iron in the body, arthropathy may result. This condition is an inflammation in one or more joints characterized by squared-off bone ends and hook-like osteophytes in the MCP joints. Other than the MCP joints, other commonly involved joint areas include the proximal interphalangeal joints, knees, feet, wrists, back and the neck. This cannot be reversed even after the excess iron is removed from the body.

Liver disease

This condition is usually presented initially as abdominal pain and cutaneous stigmata of liver disease. If liver cirrhosis is present, then the patient may complain of tenderness in the right upper quadrant with associated hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. This problem arises when too unwarranted amounts of iron are deposited in the liver parenchyma. At first, this causes tissue damage, and years later may progress to liver cancer.

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