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"Tower" or "Bossed" Skull phenotype in a child with sickle-cell anemia

    The child of West African origin has an HbA / HBa genotype. Note the exaggerated height of the child's skull ("towering") and the indentations ("bosses") on either side. This is due to hyperactivity of the bone marrow in replacing erythrocyte loss due to sickling.


All text material © 2014 by Steven M. Carr