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Chelation therapy in patients with thalassemia using the orally active iron chelator deferiprone (L1)
Y Rombos1, R Tzanetea, K Konstantopoulos
1First Dept. of Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Laikon Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece. yrombos@otenet.gr.
Background And Objective:
Excessive hemosiderosis is the main reason for the multi-organ failure observed in multitransfused patients. Deferiprone (1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-pyridine-4-one, L1) is an orally active iron chelator mainly excreted via urine. We conducted a study in order to determine the efficacy and safety of L1 in Greek thalassemic patients.
Design And Methods:
A group of 11 thalassaemic patients entered the study; L1, the Cipla formulation for deferiprone, at a daily dose of 75-100 mg/kg bw t.i.d. was used. After giving informed consent all patients were subjected to clinical examination and biological tests.
Results:
All patients tolerated the L1 well; there were no significant side effects (except for slight gastrointestinal disturbances for the first days). The net urinary iron excretion ranged from 6.96 to 26.1 mg/24h. Serum ferritin declined within 4-6 months in most of the patients.
Interpretation And Conclusions:
The results suggest that L1 is a rather safe drug which decreases iron overload without causing any considerable side-effects in Greek thalassemics.