الفهرس 
Thalassemia SyndromesOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
A
lthough the life expectancy of β-thalassemia patients has markedly improved over the last few years, patients still suffer from many complications of this congenital disease. The presence of a high incidence of TEE, mainly in β-TI, has led to the identification of a hypercoagulable state in these patients.
This study aimed at detecting the prevelance of silent stroke in TI. Thirty TI patients (age range from 6 to 18 years; mean (9.1 ± 3.03 years) fulfilling the inclusion criteria underwent history taking, clinical examination,laboratory investigations and imagings (MRI) after providing a verbal consent.
This study included 30 cases with TI. 15 (50%) were males and 15 patients (50%) were females. Hb level ranged from 5.8 to 13 g/dl with mean of 7.96 ± 1.50 g/dl. Frequency of blood transfusions to maintain that Hb level ranged from 2 to 24 weeks with mean duration 4.97 ± 5.99 weeks. 18 (60%) patients were on HU, 20 patients (66.7%) patients were on iron chelators, 2 patients (6.7%) were splenectomized within maximum period of 2 years.
MRI findings showed that 5 TI patients (16.67%) with abnormal MRI findings showing white matter lesions demonstratinog old infarctins and ischemic lesions.
In conclusion, further research is required to examine the use of transfusion in preventing brain ischemia in adult, splenectomized, TI patients. The need to delay or halt the progression of WMLs should lead to further clarification of the role of some risk factors and performance of therapeutic trials where WMLs are used as a surrogate marker for the endpoint of small-vessel disease.