Long-Term Use of Deferiprone Enhances Significantly the Left Ventricular Ejection Function in Thalassemia Major

Abstract Abstract 5302 Background: A multicentre randomized controlled trial (RCT) was designed to assess the effectiveness of long-term sequential deferiprone-deferoxamine (DFO-DFP) versus DFP alone to treat thalassaemia major (TM) (Maggio et al.,2009). Effectviness, survival, adverse events and costs were comparable between the groups. These findings were confirmed in a further 21-month follow-up (Pantalone et al., 2011). Moreover, deferiprone-alone has been reported to be superior to deferoxamine for the removal of cardiac iron and improvement in left ventricular ejection function (LVEF). However, little is known of its relative effect on LVEF after long-term treatment. Therefore, data f…