Outcome of Blood Transfusion on Thalassemia Patients

Thalassemia is the common genetic disorder worldwide and causes a serious problem in public health in the Mediterranean region. Patients with beta-thalassemia major have physical, psychological and social problems. Patients and Method In this case-control study, 80 adult patients with β-thalassemia major who frequently seek blood transfusions at the Ibn Al-Atheer Hospital in Mosul city are included, along with 80 healthy controls who are matched for age and sex. Patient demographics, clinical complications, and social status were gathered, and all patients had thyroid function testing, liver enzyme testing, random blood sugar, serum ferritin, serum calcium, hepatitis C, B virus testing, and echocardiograms. Result The samples of this study were 32 men and 48 women. The mean age was 23.8 years ±5.9. Majority of patients with thalassemia major in this study had complications associated with their disease like pulmonary hypertension (2.5%), heart failure (3.8%), hepatitis C virus (10%), hypoparathyroidism (11.3%), hypothyroidism (12.5%), diabetes mellitus (20%), hypocalcemia (60%) and hypogonadisim (63.7%). Conclusion It is important to detect disease related complications of patient by regular follow up clinically and by doing organ function tests to detect early complications and prevent as much as possible like heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, hepatitis C virus, hypoparathyroidism, hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, hypocalcaemia and hypogonadism.