Late renal, liver, endocrine, and cardiac outcomes of bone marrow transplantation in Kurdish children with β-thalassemia major.

Abstract

This study investigated late renal, liver, endocrine, and cardiac outcomes in 52 Kurdish children aged 7-18 years who underwent bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for β-thalassemia major (β-TM). Boys had higher levels of hemoglobin and alkaline phosphatase than girls. Conversely, girls exhibited higher levels of SGPT, ferritin, T4, and eGFR. In all patients, BUN (71.15%), ALP (100%), PT (96.15%), TSB (34.62%), and serum ferritin (48.08%) were elevated, while Hb (57.69%) and serum creatinine (42.31%) were lower than normal. At ages 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15 years, patients had significantly lower serum ferritin (1053.0, 212.0, and 105.05; p = 0.0004) and SGOT (30.0, 22.0, and 26.50; p = 0.0231) levels. Echocardiography showed normal heart function in 47 patients (90.39%), with minor abnormalities observed in only 9.61%. The mean eGFR was 89.70 (SD: 22.93), with girls showing a significantly higher average (98.83) than boys (72.70; p < 0.0001). Kidney function was most often mildly decreased (55.77%), followed by normal/increased (40.39%), and mild-to-moderately decreased (3.85%). Girls were more likely to have normal/ increased kidney function (61.54%), while boys predominantly had mildly decreased kidney function (76.92%) with no significant difference between ages in all patients. Most of the children with β-TM had mildly decreased kidney function and higher liver function test values.