The effect of iron overload on PCV, hemoglobin and serum ferritin of thalassaemia major male patients

Abstract EN

Red blood Corpuscle transfusion therapy as supportive care for Thalassemic patients is the principal cause of iron overload in patients with especially in β-thalassaemia.

As each unit of transfused packed red Corpuscles contains approximately 200-250 mg of iron, patients who are administered regular transfusions can receive a daily iron excess of up to 0.5mg/kg.

The complications that occur with β-thalassaemia major are Hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism.

Complication of β-thalassaemia major include: Delayed Puberty, arrested puberty and hypogonadism.

Delayed puberty is defined as the absence of any pubertal sign in boys (testicular enlargement) by the age of 13 years.

The aims of this study are to find out the serum concentration of hemoglobin & PCV, also to see the effect of iron overload as reflected by serum ferritin on blood parameters of male thalassaemia major.

Patients & methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on β-thalassaemia major patients whom attended the thalassaemia center in Azadi Teaching Hospital from December 2013 to March 2014.

Sixty six male aged (12-16 years) patients were attending thalassaemia center for routine blood transfusion.

Twenty nine male subjects apparently healthy, with no family history of hereditary blood disease attendants to out-patient pediatric clinic.

All thalassaemic patients included in this study were previously diagnosed as β-thalassaemia major based on the usual hematological criteria (peripheral blood evaluation and haemoglobin electrophoresis) in addition to the family history and transfusion dependence.

Venous blood samples were taken from all patients & controls males for hematological & biochemical analysis.

Result: There was a significant decrease (p < 0.001) in body weight & body height of thalassaemic male patients as compare with control male subjects.

There were a highly significant decrease (p <0.001) in PCV & the concentration of heamoglobin (Hb) of thalassaemic male patients as compared with control male subjects.

Moreover, there is significant increase in serum ferritin in male Thalassemic patients as compare with normal healthy males of same age