The assessment of the incidences of ocular toxicity and ocular findings caused by iron-chelating compound

Abstract

Introduction: The current article mainly attempts to evaluate the incidences of ocular toxicity and ocular findings stemming from the iron-chelating compound, deferasirox in patients with beta-thalassemia receiving recurrent blood transfusions. Patients and methods: Nearly sixty cases with ß-thalassemia major participated as case subjects, while an additional sixty otherwise healthy volunteers were engaged as control subjects. All of the subjects were age and sex-matched, and all of the volunteers were included as case subjects. Results: Despite the fact that all of the cases with beta-thalassemia did not have any signs or symptoms of eye disease, abnormal visual features (dry eye (35%), retinal pigment changes and retinal epithelium degeneration (15%), and ocular abnormalities (36.2%) were observed in 67% of thalassemia patients, indicating that the disease is not contagious, given the findings. The incidence of visual anomalies in the control group was 18.2 %, which was significantly subtler in comparison to thalassemia patients (P≤0.001). A non-significant link exists between ocular defects and serum ferritin (P=0.543) or blood hemoglobin (P=0.265). A statistically significant connection between the frequency of blood transfusions and ocular abnormalities was discovered (P=0.001). Conclusion: Based on the results, thalassemia patients should go through regular ophthalmological examination to detect early anomalies in their visual system when using an iron chelator.