Iron-Chelation Therapy with Oral Deferiprone in Patients with Thalassemia Major

In patients with thalassemia major, a regular program of transfusion sustains growth and development during childhood, but without concomitant chelation therapy, iron within the transfused red cells accumulates inexorably. 1 Excess iron damages the liver, endocrine organs, and heart and may be fatal by adolescence. 2 Two recent prospective trials have demonstrated that treatment with deferoxamine B mesylate can prevent the complications of iron overload and improve survival in thalassemia major. 3 , 4 Both studies showed that the principal determinant of the clinical outcome was the magnitude of the body iron load. In patients able to take sufficient doses of deferoxamine to control . . .