Amlodipine for Myocardial Iron in Thalassemia

Summary

Children with thalassemia may have high iron levels after receiving blood transfusions. These high iron levels can have damaging effects on the body, especially the heart. Conventionally only chelation therapy was given for prevention of iron buildup in the heart. However, current research has shown that another drug, amlodipine, also helps to slow down the deposition of iron in the heart. This study is designed to see if patients receiving amlodipine along with their regular chelation therapy have a slower rate of iron buildup in the heart when compared with patients who are receiving chelation only.

Timeline

Start

2014-02

Primary completion

2015-10

Completion

2015-11

Publications

• Padhani ZA, Gangwani MK, Sadaf A, Hasan B, Colan S, Alvi N, Das JK. Calcium channel blockers for preventing cardiomyopathy due to iron overload in people with transfusion-dependent beta thalassaemia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Nov 17;11(11):CD011626. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011626.pub3.
• Shakoor A, Zahoor M, Sadaf A, Alvi N, Fadoo Z, Rizvi A, Quadri F, Tipoo FA, Khurshid M, Sajjad Z, Colan S, Hasan BS. Effect of L-type calcium channel blocker (amlodipine) on myocardial iron deposition in patients with thalassaemia with moderate-to-severe myocardial iron deposition: protocol for a randomised, controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2014 Dec 8;4(12):e005360. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005360.

Drugs

Indications