Safety monitoring of cardiac and hepatic systems in beta-thalassemia patients with chelating treatment in Taiwan.

We conducted a prospective 3-yr clinical study comparing deferiprone (L1) with desferrioxamine (DFX). The therapeutic efficacy and potential side-effects on cardiac and/or hepatic systems of thalassemia patients were assessed by left ventricular ejection fraction, T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, and biochemical parameters. In both groups, levels of serum ferritin decreased significantly, and the hepatic function improved notably. Besides decrement of iron, no marked pathohistological changes were observed in the liver biopsies. These results indicated that for patients who failed to respond to DFX treatment, the use of L1 to remove excess iron deposition is recommended.