title: Thalassemic cardiomyopathy: echocardiographic difference between major and intermediate thalassemia at rest and during isometric effort: yearly follow-up.
abstract: Left ventricular (LV) performance was studied in young patients with severe chronic anemia due to beta-thalassemia major, intermedia, and in healthy control subjects. M-mode echocardiograms were recorded in each patient and semiautomatic computerized analysis of the tracings provided data relating to LV performance. Then a statistical analysis of the difference between each specific thalassemic group and the normal subjects was made using Student's t-test for unpaired data. The study showed that cardiac dysfunction is more serious in major than in intermediate beta thalassemia. A follow-up one year later showed a progressive deterioration of the cardiac indices, in spite of treatment with desferrioxamine. A handgrip test was performed in the follow-up study, which permitted us to distinguish different groups relative to the changes in LV performance indices. Our findings indicate that echocardiography provides a simple noninvasive means for assessing changes in the cardiac structure and function, which should also prove useful in the serial evaluation of patients at risk of developing myocardial iron deposition.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Canale
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Terrachini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vallebona
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bruzzone
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Masperone
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caponnetto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors