title: Myocardial iron loading in patients with thalassemia major in Turkey and the potential role of splenectomy in myocardial siderosis.
abstract: Iron-induced cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in thalassemia major (TM). Splenectomy is performed in TM to reduce transfusion requirements and iron intake. Prevalence of myocardial siderosis and its relationship with splenectomy in 146 patients with TM were investigated. The patients with myocardial siderosis (T2*<20 ms) accounted for 42% of the cohort. Splenectomized patients had a higher incidence of myocardial siderosis (48%) compared with those having intact spleen (28%) and significantly higher myocardial iron content. Higher myocardial iron content in splenectomized patients may deserve special attention for the role of spleen in iron regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. yesim.aydinok@ege.edu.tr
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aydinok
authors.forename: Selen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bayraktaroglu
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yildiz
authors.forename: Hudaver
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alper
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012806:Siderosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D013156:Splenectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron