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Clinical Trial
. 2015 Apr;169(2):262-6.
doi: 10.1111/bjh.13280. Epub 2015 Jan 22.

Therapeutic phlebotomy is safe in children with sickle cell anaemia and can be effective treatment for transfusional iron overload

Banu Aygun  1 , Nicole A Mortier, Karen Kesler, Alexandre Lockhart, William H Schultz, Alan R Cohen, Ofelia Alvarez, Zora R Rogers, Janet L Kwiatkowski, Scott T Miller, Pamela Sylvestre, Rathi Iyer, Peter A Lane, Russell E Ware; Stroke With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (SWiTCH) Trial Investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Therapeutic phlebotomy is safe in children with sickle cell anaemia and can be effective treatment for transfusional iron overload

Banu Aygun et al. Br J Haematol. 2015 Apr.

Abstract

Serial phlebotomy was performed on sixty children with sickle cell anaemia, stroke and transfusional iron overload randomized to hydroxycarbamide in the Stroke With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea trial. There were 927 phlebotomy procedures with only 33 adverse events, all of which were grade 2. Among 23 children completing 30 months of study treatment, the net iron balance was favourable (-8·7 mg Fe/kg) with significant decrease in ferritin, although liver iron concentration remained unchanged. Therapeutic phlebotomy was safe and well-tolerated, with net iron removal in most children who completed 30 months of protocol-directed treatment.

Keywords: iron overload; liver iron; phlebotomy; sickle cell.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlations of net iron balance with change in liver iron concentration (LIC) (1A), change in ferritin and LIC (1B) and change in net iron balance with change in ferritin (1C).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlations of net iron balance with change in liver iron concentration (LIC) (1A), change in ferritin and LIC (1B) and change in net iron balance with change in ferritin (1C).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlations of net iron balance with change in liver iron concentration (LIC) (1A), change in ferritin and LIC (1B) and change in net iron balance with change in ferritin (1C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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