Serum
ferritin is a useful monitoring tool for
iron overload in
thalassemia major. In resource poor settings access to modalities for assessment of
iron overload are limited. This study was undertaken to assess the efficiency and usefulness of serum
ferritin level in
thalassemia intermedia (TI) patients. This was a cross sectional observational study. Seventy seven TI patients attending the pediatric hematology clinic were included. Fasting blood sample was taken from each patient in
iron free vials for
iron studies. Serum
ferritin was estimated by immunometric
enzyme immunoassay using Orgentec GmbH kits. Mean age of patients evaluated was 10.9 ± 5.03 (3-26) years. The mean age at diagnosis was 4.21 ± 2.3 (0.8-11) years. Mean serum
ferritin was 486.54 ± 640.0 ng/ml (15-4,554). Thirty two (41.5 %) patients had a
ferritin value of ≥500 ng/ml. Nine patients had a serum
ferritin of ≥1,000 ng/ml. Three of the subjects with a
ferritin >1,000 ng/ml had never received a
blood transfusion (BT) and in the other six, the number of BTs ranged from 1 to 8. Serum
ferritin did not correlate with age, total number of BTs
splenectomy status or BT in last one year (p > 0.05). In 41.5 % of TI patients, serum
ferritin was ≥500 ng/ml. Age, BT and splenectomized status did not affect
ferritin level. We postulate interplay of other
biological factors like HFE gene mutation,
ferroportin, etc. to contribute to
ferritin level and hence
iron load in TI patients.
Ferritin can possibly be used as screening and monitoring tool for
iron load in TI patients when other modalities to assess
iron overload are not easily available.