Prevalence and risk factors for cardiac iron overload and cardiovascular complications among patients with thalassemia in northern thailand.

In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of cardiac iron overload, cardiovascular complications and the associated risk factors. The information obtained will serve as a guidance for surveillance, prevention and early treatment of the complications. We conducted a cross sectional study of Thai patients with thalassemia attending Chiang Mai University Hospital, Thailand. Cardiac T2* magnetic resonance imaging (CMR T2*) was used to evaluate the myocardial iron deposition and echocardiography was used to evaluate the cardiac function and to identify pulmonary hypertension. Ninety-one patients were included in the study; 64% females with a median age of 31 (16-75) years. Of the total study subjects, 49% had homozygous β thalassemia, 32% had β thalassemia/Hb E disease, and 19% had Hb H disease. Half the participants were transfusion-dependent and 84% had received iron chelation. The CMR T2* showed cardiac iron overload in 10 patients (11%). The maximum ferritin level in the previous 3 years was higher among the patients with cardiac iron overload (6,310 ng/ml) than among the patients without cardiac iron overload (3,352 ng/ml) (p=0.001). Twenty-one patients (23%) had cardiovascular complications. Cardiomyopathy was seen in 8% of patients [17% in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) and none in patients with non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT)] and pulmonary hypertension in 15% of patients (14% in patients with TDT and 16% in patients with NTDT). TDT a...
Source: Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health - Category: Tropical Medicine Tags: Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health Source Type: research