title: Improved survival in MDS patients receiving iron chelation therapy - a matched pair analysis of 188 patients from the Düsseldorf MDS registry.
abstract: MDS patients are prone to develop transfusional iron overload. Iron overload may partly explain why transfusion dependency is associated with a decreased likelihood of survival. Our matched-pair analysis included 94 patients on long-term chelation therapy and 94 matched patients without it. All patients had iron overload, defined as serum ferritin (SF) above 1000 ng/ml or a history of multiple transfusions and SF ≥ 500 ng/ml. Median SF was 1954 ng/ml in chelated and 875 ng/ml in non-chelated patients. The difference in median survival (74 vs. 49 months, respectively; p=0.002) supports the idea that iron chelation therapy is beneficial for MDS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Oncology and Clinical Immunology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany. judith.neukirchen@med.uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neukirchen
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kündgen
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nachtkamp
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strupp
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Germing
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gattermann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007502:Iron Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D012042:Registries; D016019:Survival Analysis; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007502:Iron Chelating Agents