Thalassemia is a genetic disease caused by disruption of globin chain synthesis leading to severe anemia and thus regular blood transfusion is necessary. However, there have been known transfusions-related consequences, including iron overload and multi-organ damage. The aims of this study were to evaluate liver and cardiac function in youth and adult transfusion-dependent Indonesian thalassemic patients and to assess its correlation with serum ferritin levels, as well as T2 ∗ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Transfusion-dependent thalassemic (TDT) outpatients (n = 66; mean age, 21.5 ± 7.2 years) were carried out for the complete assessment consisting of blood test including liver enzyme and serum ferritin, followed by electrocardiography (ECG) and echocardiography. Subjects were also divided by serum ferritin levels into three groups: < 2500 ng/mL, 2500–5000 ng/mL, and >5000 ng/mL. Additionally, subgroup analysis in patients with T2∗ MRI assessment was conducted. In terms of age of first blood transfusion, subjects with ferritin >5000 ng/mL were the youngest among others. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in group with serum ferritin >5000 ng/mL were significantly higher than those of the group with serum ferritin <2500 ng/mL. Additionally, youth and adult TDT patients whose serum ferritin >5000 ng/mL had significantly lower tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) when compared with those who had serum ferritin <2500 ng/mL. Similarly, TAPSE in patients with moderate cardiac siderosis based on cardiac T2∗ MRI was significantly lower than those without cardiac siderosis. There was significant, but only moderate correlation between serum ferritin and cardiac T2∗ MRI. Based on these findings, it is important to routinely monitor iron accumulation-related complications, including liver and cardiac damage in youth and adult TDT patients.

Objective: To analyze the correlation between tissue factor microparticles (TF-MP) levels and pulmonary hypertension (PH) in adult thalassemic patients. Methods: This study was conducted from September to October 2018, using secondary and primary data. The secondary data consisted of the PH parameter, which was retrieved from a 2017 previous study entitled ‘Clinical Characteristic and Complication due to Iron Overload in Thalassaemic Patients‘in 2017 while the primary data were the TF-MP, which were obtained from the analysis of frozen serum of the same population using ELISA method. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) values were obtained from echocardiography results and PH was defined as mPAP >25 mmHg. Results: Seven (16.7%) major thalassemic patients experienced PH. The median values of TF-MP levels were higher among major thalassemic patients with PH when compared to the non-PH patients (1569 vs 11.5 pg/dL; p=0.023). No significant difference was observed in the median TF-MP levels between subjects with splenectomy and subjects without splenectomy (11.6 vs 12.3 pg/dL; p=0.44). There was also no difference in mPAP values between subjects with splenectomy and subjects without splenectomy (18.0 vs 17.0 mmHg; p=0.663). When the median TF-MP levels among major thalassemic patients were analyzed in terms of correlation with transfusion level, no statistically significant difference was seen between subjects who received sufficient transfusions (≥180 mL/kgbb/year) and those who received insufficient transfusions (<180 mL/kgbb/year) (r= 0.138; p=0.390). Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the TF-MP levels and PH in adult major thalassemic subjects.

Introduction: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the biggest causes of death in the world. DVT has various risk factors so that DVT patient presentation can be different in each age, sex, and race group. This review aimed to obtain information regarding characteristics of deep vein thrombosis patients.Method: This study used qualitative approach that is library research using books and other literatures as the main object. This study was conducted using search engine, such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Clinical Key to obtain journals related with characteristics of deep vein thrombosis patients. Result: From 17 literatures, we found that characteristics of deep thrombosis patients are different in each age, sex, and race group. The severity of DVT increased with increasing age because of other conditions usually found in older age. Men are more susceptible to have DVT than women without reproductive risk factors such as pregnancy and menopause. African has more severe DVT presentation than other races. Lowest risk is found in Asian, although there is no significant difference in mortality between races.Conclusions: Characteristics of DVT patients (incidence rate, risk factors, location, and severity) vary in each age, sex, and race group.