Erythrocyte osmotic gradient deformability patterns of thalassemia patients with and without spleen 3 weeks after their last transfusion.

The average deformability index (DI) was calculated for 6 patients in each category. A left shift of the deformability curve in the hypotonic region is noted for both groups, which reflects dehydrated RBCs. S indicates patients without a spleen; NS, patients with a spleen; and C, control.