Golf Ball Body

A fanciful descriptor for red cells of severe alpha thalassemia that are filled with Heinz bodies (HBs), large rounded inclusions composed of precipitated HbH-4 beta chains, which have undergone oxidative denaturation; HBs are more prominent post-splenectomy, and seen in peripheral blood smears stained with brilliant cresyl blue, and account for more than half of the red cells in these patients