Diagnosis of hyperferritinemia in 2019

Abstract

Although hyperferritinemia is not specific, it may be diagnostically very contributing if well interpreted by the physician. Physiologically, ferritin is a protein synthesized essentially by the liver and intended to store iron in the liver, macrophage and erythrocyte. Despite this, the increase in ferritinemia does not necessarily mean iron overload or liver disease. A global approach integrating the degree of ferritinemia, anamnesis and clinical context makes possible in the vast majority of cases to find the cause of hyperferritinemia without going through the saturation factor of transferrin and thorough liver investigations. The use of transferrin saturation coefficient, liver imaging, genetic tests or even liver biopsy proves to be necessary only in rare cases where the most obvious causes could not be identified.