Loading...
Severe myocardial iron accumulation in patients with β-thalassemia major eventually results in heart failure and death. The iron content of the myocardium can be gradually reduced by chelation therapy with single-agent deferoxamine (DFO), deferiprone, or deferasirox (DFX), but whether combining these agents would benefit patients with high risk for heart failure is unclear.
To determine whether combination DFO and DFX could safely reduce severe myocardial iron overload and enable transition to DFX monotherapy, a multinational team of investigators conducted an industry-funded, 2-year, prospective, single-arm, open-label, phase II study (HYPERION) involving 60 patients with low scores of cardiovascular magnetic resonance–measured mT2* (5 to <…