Haematologica (Jun 2012)

Deferasirox for up to 3 years leads to continued improvement of myocardial T2* in patients with β-thalassemia major

  • Dudley J. Pennell,
  • John B. Porter,
  • Maria Domenica Cappellini,
  • Lee Lee Chan,
  • Amal El-Beshlawy,
  • Yesim Aydinok,
  • Hishamshah Ibrahim,
  • Chi-Kong Li,
  • Vip Viprakasit,
  • Mohsen S. Elalfy,
  • Antonis Kattamis,
  • Gillian Smith,
  • Dany Habr,
  • Gabor Domokos,
  • Bernard Roubert,
  • Ali Taher

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2011.049957
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 97, no. 6

Abstract

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Background Prospective data on cardiac iron removal are limited beyond one year and longer-term studies are, therefore, important.Design and Methods Seventy-one patients in the EPIC cardiac substudy elected to continue into the 3rd year, allowing cardiac iron removal to be analyzed over three years.Results Mean deferasirox dose during year 3 was 33.6±9.8 mg/kg per day. Myocardial T2*, assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance, significantly increased from 12.0 ms ±39.1% at baseline to 17.1 ms ±62.0% at end of study (P