An Echocardiographic Evaluation of Left Ventricular Function in Patients with Thalassemia Major

Error! Not a valid link. BACKGROUND: Cardiac disease caused by transfusional iron overload remains the principal cause of death in patients with β- thalassemia major, despite improvements in iron chelation therapy during the past 25 years. For this reason, regular evaluation of cardiac function is recommended for all patients with thalassemia major and is now an integral part of their management. Cardiac monitoring should, therefore, ideally identify patients at highest risk for cardiac decompensation before heart failure develops. Sequential and reproducible quantification of ventricular function in principle can identify early changes in the left ventricular ejection fraction from baseline for each patient and could be used as a rationale for identifying patients at high risk.