Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration in Hemoglobin CC, SC, and AC

Yan Zheng, Diana Castro, David Gay, Donghong Cai

Abstract


Point mutation in the hemoglobin beta chain generates many deviants from the normal format hemoglobin A, which contains 2 alpha chains and 2 beta chains. Among the numerous deviants, Hemoglobin C (HbC) and Hemoglobin S (HbS, sickle cell hemoglobin) are 2 of the most common variants with clinical significance. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) is of a measurement of the concentration of hemoglobin in a given volume of packed red blood cells. It is one of the red cell indices measured daily in every blood specimen, which provides clues to the clinicians about the quality of the red cells and the associated diseases. Previous studies have suggested that patients with HbCC and HbSC, and up to 45% patients with HbAC present with high MCHC. However, in our practice we found that the MCHC values in these patients showed a broad spectrum. To clarify this discrepancy, 388 peripheral blood specimens with HbCC (homozygous C), HbSC (compound heterozygous S and C), or HbAC (heterozygous C) were pulled out from hospital’s medical records. We found about 50% of the HbCC patients and 20% of HbSC patients had elevated MCHC, and in HbAC patients, elevation of MCHC was rare. Therefore, our study sheds new light on the interpretation of MCHC in daily practice.


Keywords


MCHC, hemoglobinopathy, HbC, HbS, HbA

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References


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