Patients with hereditary hemochromatosis reach safe range of transferrin saturation sooner with erythrocytaphereses than with phlebotomies.
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ABSTRACT: Introduction
For the maintenance treatment of patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), it is advised to keep the transferrin saturation (TSAT) <70% to prevent formation of non-transferrin-bound iron and labile plasma iron. The period of the initial iron depletion may last up to 1 year or longer and during this period, the patient is exposed to elevated TSAT levels. Therapeutic erythrocytapheresis (TE) is a modality which has proven to reduce treatment duration of patients with iron overload from HH. In this study, we investigated the time to reach TSAT <70% for both treatment modalities.Methods
From a previous randomized controlled trial comparing erythrocytaphereses with phlebotomies (PBMs), we performed an analysis in a subgroup of patients who presented with TSAT >70%. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare the number of treatments and the number of weeks to reach the interim goal of a persistent level of <70% for TSAT between TE and PBM.Results
The period to reach TSAT levels of <70% was statistically significant shorter for the TE group compared to the PBM treatment group (median treatment procedures [IQR] 2.0 (5) vs 16.0 (23), P-value: <.001, and median treatment duration [IQR]: 5.5 (11) vs 19.0 (29) weeks, P-value: .007).Conclusion
Patients with HH reach a safe TSAT <70% significantly sooner and with less treatment procedures with TE compared to PBM.
SUBMITTER: Rombout-Sestrienkova E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9299622 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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