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Disease Etiology
Thalassemias are inherited autosomal recessive hematologic disorders whereby there is a mutation(s) for the synthesis of hemoglobin chain(s) (1). Hemoglobin consists of a heme ring with four globin chains. With alpha (α) thalassemia the α-globin chains are either decreased or absent resulting in an excess of unpaired beta (β) globin chains. With β-thalassemia the β-globin chains are decreased or absent resulting in an excess of α-globin chains. The excess unpaired globin