[Study of iron metabolism in chronic diffuse diseases of the liver].

Iron metabolism was studied in patients with chronic diffuse diseases of the liver. A sharp increase of ferritin content at the expense of its release from affected hepatocytes, and formation of antibodies to ferritin of the splenic type have been recorded in patients with cirrhosis of the liver. The observed growth of ferritin content in red blood cells can be explained by functional deficiency of red blood cells and by the presence of hemolytic process (twofold decrease of haptoglobin level).