In Section II, Dr.Victor Hoffbrand discusses the management of iron storage disease by chelation therapy, treatment that is usually reserved for patients with secondary hemochromatosis such as occurs in the thalassemias and in patients with transfusion requirements due to myelodysplasia and other marrow failure states. Tissue iron can be estimated by determining serum ferritin levels, measuring liver iron, and by measuring cardiac iron using the MRI-T2* technique.
The standard form of chelation therapy is the slow intravenous or subcutaneous infusion of desferoxamine. An orally active bidentate iron chelator, deferiprone, is now licensed in 25 countries for treatment of patients with thalassemia major. Possibly because of the ability of this compound to cross membranes, it appears to have superior cardioprotective properties. Agranulocytosis is the most serious complication of deferiprone therapy and occurs in about 1% of treated patients.
Deferiprone and desferoxamine can be given together or on alternating schedules.
A new orally active chelating agent ICL 670 seems promising in early clinical studies.