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Iron-induced cardiomyopathy is a major cause of death in patients with thalassemia. Deferasirox is an oral iron chelator that increases the elimination of iron, but whether it is as efficacious as the older parenteral drug deferoxamine (DFO) is unclear.
To determine if deferasirox is noninferior to DFO, investigators conducted a prospective, multinational, randomized, open-label, phase II study involving 197 patients with beta-thalassemia. Patients received either oral deferasirox (20–40 mg/kg/day or subcutaneous DFO (50–60 mg/kg/day, infused over 8 to 12 hours, 5 to 7 days a week). The primary endpoint was the change in myocardial iron as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance; myocardial T2* ≤20 ms was indicative of iron accumulation.
After…