Abstract #3774

Onset of Cardiac Iron Loading in a Large and Homogenous Cohort of Thalassemia Major Pediatric Patients

Antonella Meloni¹, Aldo Filosa², Vincenzo Positano¹, Daniele De Marchi¹, Letizia Gulino¹, Claudio Ascioti³, Massimo Midiri⁴, Gianluca Valeri⁵, Massimo Lombardi¹

¹Cardiovascular MR Unit, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana and Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy; ²UOC Pediatria - DH Talassemia, AORNA. Cardarelli, Napoli, Italy; ³Struttura Complessa di Cardioradiologia-UTIC, P.O. Giovanni Paolo II, Italy; ⁴Istituto di Radiologia, Policlinico "Paolo Giaccone", Palermo, Italy; ⁵Dipartimento di Radiologia, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti "Umberto I-Lancisi-Salesi", Ancona, Italy

The MRI screening for both cardiac iron overload and function assessment can be started for thalassemia major patients at the age of 7 years. At this age not sedation is generally needed. If the availability of cardiac MRI is low, the serum ferritin levels could be used as a discriminating factor.