Beta-thalassemia historical perspective

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1];Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Maryam Hadipour, M.D.[2]

The Thalassemia term was invented by a hematologist, Dr. Thomas Cooley, in 1925. It has a Greek origin and consists of Thalassa and Emia which mean sea and blood, respectively. The diagnostic certainty was ultimately established with hemoglobin electrophoresis in the 20th century.

The Thalassemia term was coined by Dr. Thomas Cooley (1871-1945), an American hematologist, in 1925, when he first described the disease in the Mediterranean Sea descent. Thalassemia is a Greek word derived from Thalassa meaning sea and Emia meaning blood ^[1]. The pattern of the disease was also observed and recorded in the Middle East and Southeast Asia frequently. Later, Dr. James V. Neel distinguished thalassemia from sickle cell anemia. VALENTINE, W. N., and J. V. NEEL, Hematologic and genetic study of the transmission of thalassemia. Arch. Intern. Med. 1944, 74: 185-196. The diagnostic certainty was ultimately established with hemoglobin electrophoresis in the 20th century.^[2]

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