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

Prospective data on cardiac iron removal are limited beyond one year and longer-term studies are, therefore, important. Seventy-one patients in the EPIC cardiac substudy elected to continue into the 3(rd) year, allowing cardiac iron removal to be analyzed over three years. 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