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Ency. home > Disease > C > Clinical thalassemia (major and minor)

Clinical thalassemia (major and minor)    See images

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Alternative names:

Thalassemia major; Thalassemia; Mediterranean anemia; Cooley's anemia; Thalassemia intermedia

Treatment

With severe thalassemia, regular blood transfusions and folate supplementation are given. People who receive the blood transfusions should avoid iron supplements and oxidative drugs such as sulfonamides, because iron levels can become toxic.  

Patients who receive significant numbers of blood transfusions require therpy to remove iron from the body, called chelation therapy.  Bone marrow transplant is being investigated as a treatment and is most successful in children.

Prognosis

In severe thalassemia, death from heart failure can occur between the ages or 20 and 30.  Hypertransfusion programs with chelation therapy improve outcome, and successful bone marrow transplantation is curative. Less severe forms of thalassemia usually do not impact on life span.

Complications

Untreated, thalassemia major leads to heart failure as well as liver dysfunction, and susceptibility to infection.

Iron overload as a side effect of treatment can cause damage to the heart, liver, and endocrine systems. This complication is managed by daily injections of an iron chelating agent which binds iron to it and causes it to be excreted in the urine.

Call Your Health Care Provider If:

Call for an appointment with your health care provider if symptoms develop that are suggestive of thalassemia.

Call your health care provider if symptoms develop after treatment.

Ency. home > Disease > C > Clinical thalassemia (major and minor)

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