| Affiliation: | 1. Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, USA;2. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA;3. Rho Inc., Chapel Hill, NC, USA;4. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA;5. University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA;6. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA;7. SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY, USA;8. Duckworth Pathology Group, Memphis, TN, USA;9. University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA;10. Emory University/Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA |
| Abstract: | Serial phlebotomy was performed on sixty children with sickle cell anaemia, stroke and transfusional iron overload randomized to hydroxycarbamide in the Stroke With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea trial. There were 927 phlebotomy procedures with only 33 adverse events, all of which were grade 2. Among 23 children completing 30 months of study treatment, the net iron balance was favourable (?8·7 mg Fe/kg) with significant decrease in ferritin, although liver iron concentration remained unchanged. Therapeutic phlebotomy was safe and well‐tolerated, with net iron removal in most children who completed 30 months of protocol‐directed treatment. |
