Objective:In this studywe haveassessed the cardiac profile of mult transfused β and E–β thalassemia patients along with the ferritin level and studied the effects of chelation therapy on cardiac status of the patients.

Study design:100 thalassemia patients (β thalassemia and its variants)were selected randomly and their cardiac status was assessed by 2D M mode Echo with color–Doppler. Among these patients 54 cases are chosen who have taken Deferasirox monotherapy on a regular basis and the echo was repeated in them. We have compared the cardiac status of the patients before and after chelation therapy along with the ferritin level, thus to find out the pattern of cardiac involvement and determine the role of chelation therapy.

Results:The mean PASP value is higher in E–β patients (41.51mmof Hg) compared to the other subgroups(p value <0.01). There is a positive correlation between the grade of diastolic dysfunction and ferritn level in the pre chelation phase (R²=.33 & p value <0.01).After chelation there is significant improvement of diastolic dysfunction and it has statistically significant correlation with the rate of decrease in ferritin (R²=0.143 & p value <0.01).But there is no significant reduction in PASP with chelation therapy.

Conclusion:Cardiac diastolic dysfunction is a major manifestation of β thalassemia major patients. With successful chelation therapy the grade of diastolic dysfunction can be reverted.But in our study it is shown that the PAH once developed (mostly in E–β variants)cannot be reverted by oral chelation therapy.