UKMLA PLAB AMC USMLE Prometric MCQ

Question Number 0792

Question:
A 72 year old man presented at the Outpatient Clinic because of anemia. His past medical history included peripheral neuropathy detected a few years previously and chronic alcoholism. A bone marrow aspiration revealed erythroid hyperplasia. Prussian blue staining revealed normoblasts with augmentation of mitochondrial iron. A ringed appearance to the nucleus when stained with iron stains (Prussian blue) is typically seconday to :

a) the presence of hemoglobin S
b) the presence of hemoglobin M
c) a deficiency of folate
d) bone marrow failure
e) an inability to manufacture heme