Serum Ferritin in Thalassemic (Major) Patients with Subcutaneous Desferal Versus Subcutaneous and Intravenous Desferal Therapy

Objective:β-thalassemia is a widespread disease. Long term transfusion is the most important therapy in these patients but the best regimen is controversial yet. In this study two groups of thalassemic patients were compared. Subcutaneous desferal regimen was compared versus subcutaneous in combination with intravenous desferal.
Material & Methods: This clinical trial was done on thalassemic patients in Pediatric Center who were similar in mean age, number of subcutaneous desferal infusions and number of transfusions. This study was done in one year and serum ferritin was measured every 3 months in patients (cases) and at the end of the study (in controls).
Findings: Mean serum ferritin was significantly different in two groups at the end of the study (after one year follow-up), it was higher in case group than in controls (1.7 times) (P value=0.04).
Conclusion:In this study, combination therapy of intravenous and subcutaneous desferal was more effective to reduce the iron overload. With more accurate management we will achieve a better long term prognosis in these patients.

Keywords
Serum ferritin , Thalassemia , Subcutaneous desferal , Intravenous desferal