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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Hematology and Hematological Malignancies
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1514722
This article is part of the Research Topic Anemia in Children: From Nutritional Deficits to Genetic Disorders View all articles

Cardiac injury caused by iron overload in thalassemia

Provisionally accepted
Chunxi Fu Chunxi Fu 1,2,3Xue Yang Xue Yang 1,3*
  • 1 West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cardiac iron overload affects approximately 25% of patients with β-thalassemia major, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Two mechanisms are responsible for iron overload in β-thalassemia: increased iron absorption due to ineffective erythropoiesis and blood transfusions. This review examines the mechanisms of myocardial injury caused by cardiac iron overload and role of various clinical examination techniques in assessing cardiac iron burden and functional impairment. Early identification and intervention for cardiac injury and iron overload in β-thalassemia have the potential to prevent and reverse or delay its progression in the early stages, playing a crucial role in its prognosis.

    Keywords: β-thalassemia, Iron Overload, Myocardial injury, Treatment, Early identification

    Received: 21 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Fu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xue Yang, Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.