Chronic, severe anemia in patients with thalassemia may result in bone marrow expansion and extramedullary hematopoiesis. Ineffective production of alpha- or beta-globin chains may result in ineffective erythropoiesis, premature red blood cell destruction, and anemia. Thalassemia is a group of autosomal recessive hemoglobinopathies affecting the production of normal alpha- or beta-globin chains that comprise hemoglobin.
