Treatment of transfusional iron overload in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome or severe anemia: data from multicenter clinical practices.
BACKGROUND
Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or severe anemia requiring repeated red blood cell (RBC) transfusions risk developing transfusional iron overload, which can reduce survival. Iron chelation therapy (ICT) has been shown to improve survival and quality of life in patients; however, ICT utilization in clinical practices is not well understood.


METHODS
Medical records of patients diagnosed with MDS or severe anemia at least 6 months before data extraction, aged at least 21 years at diagnosis, and who received at least one RBC transfusion were reviewed. ICT eligibility was defined as at least 20 units of RBCs transfused or at least two serum ferritin levels exceeding 1000 microg/L. Study endpoint was ICT treatment rate among ICT-eligible patients with lower-risk MDS (International Prognostic Scoring System [low or intermediate-1]; World Health Organization [refractory anemia {RA}, refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts {RARS}, refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia {RCMD}, refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia and ringed sideroblasts, or 5q]; French-American-British [RA/RARS]).


RESULTS
Among 78 ICT-eligible patients with lower-risk MDS, 32 (41%) received ICT. At ICT initiation, treated patients received on average 13.3 transfusions (27.6 units) and mean first post-ICT initiation serum ferritin was twice the MDS Foundation recommendation at 1949 microg/L. Median overall survival for all ICT-eligible patients was significantly longer for those ICT-treated patients than untreated patients (8.7 years vs. 4.7 years, log-rank p = 0.02; multivariate hazard ratio 0.372, p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
This study finds only 41% of ICT-eligible patients with lower-risk MDS received ICT in clinical practice, and treatment was initiated later than recommended. Receipt of ICT was associated with significantly longer survival.
Raptis
Anastasios
A
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Duh
Mei Sheng
MS
Wang
Si-Tien
ST
Dial
Ellison
E
Fanourgiakis
Ilias
I
Fortner
Barry
B
Paley
Carole
C
Mody-Patel
Nikita
N
Corral
Mitra
M
Scott
Jeffrey
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D016896:Treatment Outcome