Determining the efficacy of Deferiprone (L1) on decreasing ferritin levels of Thalassemia patients in Arak

Thalassemia patients are transfusion dependent and the consequence of these repeated transfusions is hemosiderosis. Therefore these patients need iron chelator drugs. Desferioxamine is an iron chelator drug that its route of administration is subcutaneous which is very difficult for patients. Deferiprone (L1) is an oral iron chelator drug that is easy to use for thalassemic patients. The aim of this study is the efficacy assessment of L1 on ferritin level in Arak city during 6 months. In this before and after clinical trial study, 33 patients underwent treatment with L1, with the dose of 75 mg/kg/day.The mean of ferritin level in patients was measured before and 6 months after receiving L1. Data was analyzed using paired t-test. The mean age of patients was 17.2±1 years (10-34 years old). The mean ferritin level before administration of L1 was 1881±257 mcgr/l and after administration of the drug was 2495±384 which had no significant difference. Side effects were leukopenia (3%), rise of ALT (35%) and increase of AST (60%) which were all transient. Although the level of ferritin increased after the treatment with L1, but there was no significant difference and it seems that the drug can have a good effect in decreasing iron. All of he patients in this study have received the drug for 6 months. Therefore we need other studies with longer duration in order to assess the efficacy of Deferiprone.