The dark brown color of the liver, as well as the pancreas (bottom center) and lymph nodes (bottom right) on sectioning is due to extensive iron deposition in a middle-aged man with hereditary hemochromatosis (HHC). HHC results from a mutation involving the hemochromatosis gene (HFE) that leads to increased iron absorption from the gut. The prevalence is between 1:200 and 1:500 persons in the U.S. About 1 in 10 persons of northern European ancestry carries the abnormal recessive HFE gene, and most of these are the C282Y mutation.

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