Hemoglobinopathies by High Performance Liquid Chromatography, 2 years 5 Months Study of 899 Cases in A Teaching Institute

Abstract Hemoglobinopathies are the most common genetic disorder with higher incidence in Middle East and Indian Subcontinent as per WHO. Hemoglobin electrophoresis carried out by High Performance Liquid Chromatography is useful method for screening and diagnosing hemoglobinopathies in developing countries like India where resources are limited. It has an advantage of quantifying HbF and HbA2 along with detecting other variants in single screening test. Retrospective study from July 2019 to December 2021 was done which included 899 cases. Complete Blood Count parameters and peripheral smears were compared with the chromatographs in all patients. The study showed prevalence of Beta Thalassemia trait in females in the age group of 21 to 40 years. Two cases showed compound heterozygous for HbS and Beta Thalassemia. Other cases of hemoglobinopathies in our study showed Sickle cell trait, Sickle Cell homozygous, Beta thalassemia major, HbD trait, HbE trait. High performance Liquid Chromatography is rapid, sensitive, specific, reproducible, less time consuming and require less man power. RBC indices, HPLC finding and family study are sufficient to detect and manage most of the hemoglobin variants prevalent in India. However one should be aware of limitations associated with the diagnosis to avoid false negative results. Genetic studies are indicated to confirm borderline cases.