ABSTRACT

Aim: To find out the frequency of high serum ferritin levels in cases of beta-thalassemia major.

Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Pathology CMH Institute of Medical Sciences Bahawalpur from July 2019 to December 2019.A total of 67 cases of beta thalassemia major, having age 2-15 years either gender were included. ELISA kit was used to perform serum ferritin levels. Serum ferritin levels were labeled as high if > 1000ng/ml. The data was entered on a predesigned Performa along with demographic profile of all the patients.

Results: A total of 67 cases of beta thalassemia major were recruited for this study. Mean age was 7.27±3.55 years. Out of the 67 patients, 41(58.21%) were male and 26 (41.79%) were females with male to female ratio of 1.6:1. Mean duration of disease was 5.23±3.15 years. Mean blood transfusions/year was 12.89±4.34 transfusions/year. Mean serum ferritin levels were 2752.33 ± 945.41 ng/ml. High serum ferritin level was found in 58 (86.57%) cases, whereas there was no High serum ferritin level in 09 (13.43%) cases.

Conclusion: This study concluded that that frequency of high serum ferritin levels in beta-thalassemia major patients is very high. So, we recommend that there should be proper screening of serum ferritin levels in these particular patients for early and proper management of this disastrous complication by chelation therapy in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality of these particular patients.