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BACKGROUND AND AIM: Thromboembolic events mainly occur in older age is related with high morbidity and mortality, and considerable health-care costs particularly in developing countries. Both arterial and venous thromboembolism has known risk factors such as hyperlipidemia, obesity, diabetes, cancer, major surgery, central catheter. We aimed to evaluate the occurrence of thrombotic events and related risk factors in a group of Iranian patients. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, all patients (n = 99) who were complicated by thrombotic events referred to the Hematology Research Center of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were investigated from 2015 to 2017, in Shiraz, Southern Iran. Data were collected from their medical records by a designed data gathering form. RESULTS: The median age of the occurrence of thrombosis was 51 (IQR: 31) years. From all thrombotic events 52.5% occurred in females. Venous thrombosis was more prevalent than arterial (61.6% vs. 38.4%). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease were the most associated disease with thrombosis. Most of the patients (79.8%) had no episodes of relapse and the occurrence of relapse had no significant relationship with thrombophilia and underlying disease. Acceptable response rate for warfarin therapy was achieved in 46.5% with 5 mg and 43.4% with 5-7.5 mg. CONCLUSION: Knowing the frequency and risk factors for thrombotic events lead to timely diagnosis and management of thrombosis. Atrial fibrillation and valvular rheumatic heart disease are the most common risk factors of thrombosis in our study showing prophylaxis is necessary in high-risk patients.
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OBJECTIVE: Deferasirox is a once-daily oral iron-chelation agent approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in November 2005. The authors aimed to evaluate efficacy, safety, and satisfaction of patients regarding twice-daily dose of deferasirox in patients with thalassemia who are resistant to once-daily regimen. METHODS: In this historical cohort multicenter study, 34 patients with beta-thalassemia major resistant or intolerant to once-daily dose of deferasirox (35 mg/kg/d) were investigated in 2016. Patients were registered at 3 thalassemia referral centers in Shiraz, southern Iran and Tehran, the capital of Iran. All patients were followed for 1 year and monitored by regular physical examination, laboratory data, serum ferritin levels, and heart and liver T2 magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Mean age of thalassemia patients was 25.6±8.1 (8 to 40) years, including 22 female individuals and 12 male individuals. Serum ferritin levels significantly decreased during the study period (2021±955 at baseline vs. 1228±894 at the end of the study, P<0.001). Liver T2 magnetic resonance imaging of the patients demonstrated a significant improvement during the study. 73.3% of patients showed normal values at the end of study compared with 28.1% at the baseline (P<0.001). Drug side effects were reported only in 2 patients (5.8%) including 1 patient with abdominal pain and 1 with leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that deferasirox can be used with increased dose and twice daily with acceptable efficacy in unresponsive or intolerant thalassemia patients to once-daily dose. Close monitoring of the patients is necessary to detect and manage any possible adverse events.