Acute bone marrow aplasia associated with intravenous administration of deferoxamine (desferrioxamine)

The authors report the clinical course and fatal outcome of a case of acute bone marrow aplasia, after intravenous administration of deferoxamine (desferrioxamine) to a 16-year-old girl with homozygous beta-thalassaemia. The type of aplasia was mainly that of a megakaryocytic thrombocytopenia, but the 2 other haemopoetic series were also involved. The absence of any other toxic factors and the quite rapid onset of the bone marrow failure after this type of treatment strongly suggest that intravenous administration of high doses of deferoxamine was the potential toxic factor.