A 5-year follow-up in deferasirox treatment: improvement of cardiac and hepatic iron overload and amelioration in cardiac function in thalassemia major patients

• Published in: Annals of hematology 2015-06, Vol.94 (6), p.939-945
• Main Authors: Cassinerio, E., Roghi, A., Orofino, N., Pedrotti, P., Zanaboni, L., Poggiali, E., Giuditta, M., Consonni, D., Cappellini, M. D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Benzoates - pharmacology; Benzoates - therapeutic use; beta-Thalassemia - diagnosis; beta-Thalassemia - drug therapy; beta-Thalassemia - metabolism; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hematology; Humans; Iron Chelating Agents - pharmacology; Iron Chelating Agents - therapeutic use; Iron Overload - diagnosis; Iron Overload - drug therapy; Iron Overload - metabolism; Liver - drug effects; Liver - metabolism; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Myocardium - metabolism; Oncology; Original Article; Treatment Outcome; Triazoles - pharmacology; Triazoles - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0939-5555; 1432-0584
• DOI: 10.1007/s00277-014-2291-x

Deferasirox (DFX) is an oral iron chelator with established efficacy and safety. We evaluated by T2* cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) the efficacy of DFX in preventing and removing cardiac and liver iron load and cardiac volume changes, along 5 years in adult thalassemia major (TM) patients. Twenty-three TM patients (9 males/14 women, mean age 36 ± 4 years) were included in this study. Repeated CMR was performed to assess myocardial and liver iron load (baseline t0, after 2.5 years t1, after 5 years t2). Myocardial T2* values changed progressively and increased significantly between t0 and t2 (t0: 27.15 ± 9.58 vs t2: 36.64 ± 6.68, p  = 0.0001). At baseline evaluation, a cardiac T2* value