First Cohort Study on Iron Chelation Therapy of Patients with Hemoglobinopathies Born from 1980-2014 Treated in the Main Diagnostic and Treatment Center of Hemoglobinopathies in Albania

Albania is affected by thalassemia and hemoglobin disorders. Chronic transfusion therapy plays an important role in the management of them but, inevitably leads to iron overload, which requires chelation therapy. The chelation therapy was regularly initiated at our center on 1998. The aim of this paper is to present a data comparison of the mean serum ferritin level of thalassemia major, sickle cell disease and thalaso-sickle cell disease patients born between 1980- 1997 with that of patients born between 1998-2014, as well as, to estimate the mortality rate between these two groups. This is the first study done on this subject in Albania. A cohort of 358 multi blood transfused patients born between 1980 - 2014 was studied. There was a significant reduced number of patients with high serum level of ferritin in the group born after 1998, which got chelation therapy from the beginning. Comparison of 17-year year mortality rate shows that mortality was significantly lower for those born after 1998.