British researchers have recently discovered a new way to predict which thalassemia patients will develop heart failure.

Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder caused by decreased and defective production of hemoglobin, a molecule found in red blood cells (RBCs), and responsible in transporting oxygen throughout the body.

While multiple lifelong transfusions can save a patient's life, they place the victim at an increased risk of serious side effects, mainly an overload of iron, a condition that can affect the normal functioning of the heart and liver, as well as delaying growth and sexual maturation.

Previous studies had reported that heart failure accounted for some 70 percent of the fatality rate among such patients.

Seventy percent of these patients with thalassaemia, a blood disease involving defects in haemoglobin production that causes anaemia, currently die of heart failure.

According to a study published in Circulation, magnetic resonance scanners, known as cardiac T2*, measure the iron level in the heart and hence can detect individuals at risk of developing heart failure.

The new system can detect ferrihydrite, the iron deposited in the cells of the heart, identifying individuals with higher levels of iron deposits who are at a greater risk of developing heart failure in the long-run.

"T2* is really the penicillin of the thallassaemia world - penicillin saved so many lives and T2* is going to do the same," said Dudley Pennell, the lead author of the study, adding that the device is a powerful predictor of the subsequent development of heart failure in thalassemic patients.

Scientists reported that the scanning technique not only helps detect the at-risk patients, but can also evaluate the efficacy of different drugs in removing iron from the body.

PKH/MB