Active clinical trials for "Iron Overload"

Hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC) is a frequent disease in Brittany (5 to 7‰), responsible first for biological disorder in blood iron parameters and minor clinical disorders, before evolving to potential life-threatening consequences such as diabetes, liver cirrhosis and congestive heart failure. The improvement of screening and treatments made those severe affections rare enough not to evaluate myocardial iron overload a systematic part of the starting check-up. Nonetheless this myocardial iron overload might have severe implications on cardiac function on a long term basis. A single trial was conducted on limited number of patients with 1.5 Tesla MRI, which showed a myocardial iron overload (defined by a myocardium T2* value <20ms) in 19% of the subjects. The main objective of this study is to precisely estimate cardiac iron overload in treatment naive patients with newly diagnosed HFE hereditary haemochromatosis with a 3 Tesla MRI, more sensitive than the 1.5 Tesla one, in order to later appreciate its correlation with cardiac morbidity in HHC.

Iron overload is well study in Thalassemia patients and it's not only related to blood transfusions, since intestinal iron absorption is also increased in those patients. Sickle cell patients didn't develope significant clinical symptoms and signs of iron overload in spite frequent transfusions. The purpouse of this study is to assess the iron overload in Sickle cell anemia and Sickle cell Thalassemia patients using clinical parameters and cardiac T2*MRI in order to determine the cardiac and liver iron.

Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have an ineffective hemopoiesis and often suffer from anemia. This can lead to red blood cell transfusion dependency and iron overload. Iron overload can affect the liver and lead to liver fibrosis and worst case cirrhosis. Ferritin is usually used to monitor the iron overload. In this study MDS patients will have a transient elastography performed which measures the liver's stiffness. The purpose is to investigate whether liver stiffness measurements are coherent to ferritin levels.

Heart failure from myocardial iron deposition is a severe complication for patients with hematological disorders who need repeated blood transfusions. Increased cardiac iron content impacts the contractility of cardiomyocytes and can also lead to myocarditis, pericarditis, and arrhythmias. The severity of cardiac dysfunction depends on the amount of iron deposited in the myocardium. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is used as noninvasive method to evaluate the amount of iron in the heart. Myocardial T2* value has been shown to correlate well with biopsy-derived iron concentration in the heart, and myocardial T2* values less than 20ms (indicating elevated iron) were found to be associated with LV dysfunction and improve in concert with LV function during recovery. The majority of the recent studies about myocardial iron overload and the effect of iron chelation therapy were focused on patients with transfusion-dependent hematological disorder, especially beta-thalassemia major. The objective of this 3-year project is to evaluate myocardial iron deposition in patients with heart failure, induced by variable causes. With myocardial T2* imaging, the investigators will analyze the decreased signal intensity in the ventricular septum and quantitatively acquire the T2* value as marker for myocardial iron deposition. The first year is a cross-sectional study. The investigators aim to compare the severity of myocardial iron deposition of normal subjects and that of stable HF patients in recovery with normal or impaired ejection fraction (EF). Total 60 subjects will be enrolled, with 20 subjects in each group. In the 2nd and 3rd years, the investigators plan a prospective longitudinal study of 40 subjects. Enrolled patients will be evaluated with cardiac T2* imaging at three time points, i.e., disease onset, 6 months and one year after treatment, and will be followed up until the end of this project (1.5~3-year follow up). In total 120 MR scans will be performed in the 2nd and 3rd years. The presence and severity of myocardial iron deposition will be correlated with the disease course, patient biochemistry data and clinical outcome.

The purpose of this study is to survey iron storage levels and their prognostic consequences in the context of acute inflammation. The impact of iron substitution in inflammatory states is controversial. We hypothesize that iron substitution may influence outcome in patients in inflammatory states.

Iron is an essential micronutrient that plays an important role in cellular functions of all microorganisms. Both iron deficiency and iron excess during the early weeks of life can have severe effects on neurodevelopment that may persist into adulthood and may not be corrected by restoration of normal iron levels. Iron overload remains a significant concern in preterm infants because they have low levels of iron-binding proteins and immature antioxidant systems. The aim of the study is to evaluate if iron supplementation is required/necessary in VLBW Very Low Birth Weight (less than 1500 grams) and to assess the efficacy and safety of the iron supplementation practice for VLBW preterm infants as implemented in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Ha'Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel.

Many hematological disorders are treated by giving red blood cells. Over a long period of time iron from the red blood cell will accumulate in the tissues of the heart, liver, and endocrine glands. This condition is referred to as iron overload and may become life threatening due to the effects of the iron on these tissues. The normal method for evaluation of iron overload is a liver biopsy. This procedure is invasive and has potential risks, such as bleeding and infection. It is very desirable to establish a method for assessing iron overload which is not invasive. New magnet resonance imaging (MRI) relaxation techniques (T2*MRI) can be used to indirectly assess the liver iron content and iron in the heart. Results of T2*MRIs show excellent correlation with liver iron content and heart function. The use of this method of assessment will minimize the risk and inconvenience of liver biopsy and possibly allow more frequent evaluations for iron overload, thus better treatment for these patients. Participants in this study will undergo both liver biopsy for liver iron content and T2* MRI of the liver and the heart. Results from the procedures performed in this study will be compared, with the end result being the possible elimination of invasive procedures to diagnose iron overload.

Aim of the work Assessment of hepatic affection in patients with ESRD (end stage renal disease) on regular dialysis with iron indices suggesting iron overload. Comparison between HCV -negative HD patients with high and normal TSAT as regard liver iron concentration(LIC) and degree of fibrosis.

Iron overload, which can be defined operationally as too much iron in the body, develops as a consequence of too many blood transfusions given, or due to genetic defects hereditary hemochromatosis). Iron accumulates in several organs in the body, such as the heart, liver, endocrine glands (pancreas, thyroid, etc.), and spleen. Excessive iron can damage organs and may even cause death. Iron overload needs to be appropriately monitored and treated to avoid unnecessary morbidity and mortality. The present study, GENIOS, proposes to test prospectively the hypothesis that genetic modifiers influence the iron overload status of patients receiving transfusions. To test this hypothesis, the study will perform genetic studies to investigate possible genetic influences for iron accumulation in the body and will study iron accumulation not only in the liver, but also in the heart, pancreas, kidneys, and spleen. In addition: the study will investigate if these same genes have any role during treatment of iron overload, in other words, if certain genetic mutations will influence how iron exits the body. This study will also investigate how substances that are known to control the trafficking of iron in and out of the body and its damaging effects to the tissues (hepcidin and non transferrin-bound iron) are linked to the accumulation of iron in the heart and liver. Iron in the body will be measured by R2*MRI and no liver biopsies will be required. Genetic studies will be done by specialized tests using peripheral blood DNA. Iron accumulates differently in different people and in different organs of the body. Some people accumulate iron faster than others, even when receiving the same number of blood transfusions

The purpose of the TCRN is to accelerate research in the management of thalassemia, standardize existing treatments, and evaluate new ones in a network of clinical centers in North America. The emphasis will be on clinical trials that help identify optimal therapy. Therapeutic trials may involve investigational drugs, drugs already approved but not currently used, and drugs currently used.