Evaluation of the level of liver enzymes and its relationship with ferritin and the frequency of blood transfusion in patients with thalassemia

Abstract

Thalassemia major is the most common hemolytic anemia in Iran and the world that causes an increase in complications in patients, one of the most important of which is liver complications. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the level of liver enzymes and their relationship with ferritin and the frequency of blood transfusions in patients with thalassemia. This study was performed on 73 patients with thalassemia major. Demographic, clinical and laboratory information were recorded from the medical files. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22 software. Our study showed significant increasing trend in the AST, ALT and ALP levels in thalassemic patients. However, these changes were not statistically significant amount patients with different frequencies of blood transfusion (p>0.05). Among liver enzymes, just AST and ALT had significant correlations with serum ferritin (p<0.001). In addition, serum ferritin levels of more than 1625 mg/dl could predict the abnormal liver enzymes with the highest sensitivity (59%) and specificity (100%) when considering ALT and AST levels as diagnostic measures for liver problems. Due to the high prevalence of liver damage in thalassemia patients, serum ferritin in combination with the other factors can be applied as a suitable index for assessment of the liver function.

Keywords

• alpha globin chain
• beta globin chain
• ferritin
• α thalassemia
• β thalassemia