MONDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- New insights into red blood cell disorders may benefit patients with sickle cell disease and thalassemia, according to several research studies presented this week at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta.
In one study, Richard Lottenberg, M.D., of the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, and colleagues analyzed medical and pharmacy data from Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2005, on 2,301 Florida Medicaid-eligible patients over age 16. The researchers found that only 38 percent of sickle cell disease patients eligible to receive hydroxyurea -- a drug that reduces transfusion requirements by about 50 percent -- received at least one prescription for hydroxyurea.
In a second study, Aurelio Maggio, M.D., of the Hospital 'V. Cervello' in Palermo, Italy, and colleagues randomly assigned 140 patients with thalassemia major to receive either standard deferoxamine monotherapy or sequential treatment with oral deferiprone for four days followed by subcutaneous deferoxamine for three days. After five years, the researchers found that the sequential group had greater mean reductions in serum ferritin levels than the deferoxamine-alone group and were more likely to have milder and reversible side effects such as leukocytopenia.
"By understanding how to effectively mitigate the consequences of multiple transfusions, particularly iron overload, we can better serve a broad range of patients who suffer from red blood cell disorders," Marilyn Telen, M.D., of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said in a statement.
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