Patients with an α-chain variant and α-thalassemia-1 are not common. We recently studied a Taiwanese family in which the father carried an αchain variant and the mother was a carrier of α-thal-1 with assorted genotypes in their offspring. Hematological and genetic analyses of their blood samples revealed correlations between the clinical manifestations and genotypes. Hb G-Chinese combining withα-Thalassemia-1 is not common when comparing with Hb G-Taichung combining withα-Thalassemia-1. The former has no Hb-H, but the latter usually has a distinct Hb-H. Differential diagnosis relys on careful analysis of Hb electrophoresis and genotyping.
