Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Back ground: Heart disease remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality in thalassemic patients. Heart injuries in iron overload cases include dilatation of the atria and ventricles, arrhythmia, pulmonary hypertension, systolic/diastolic dysfunction and finally heart failure. Echocardiographic techniques are non invasive, widely available and can be used to assess cardiac function. Assessment of cardiac iron load can be performed directly using Cardiac Magnetic resonance imaging T2* (CMRIT2*), a sensitive, noninvasive imaging, to correlate the cardiac iron status to echocardiographic and holter {uFB01}ndings. Aim: Assessment of cardiac functions and arrhythmia in children with Ý-Thalassemia Major and Ý-Thalassemia Intermedia and its correlation to CMRIT2* data as an indicator for cardiac iron overload. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 30 patients with Ý- thalassemia major (TM) and 30 patients with Ý-thalassemia intermedia (TI) underwent full history taking, clinical examination and laboratory tests including (complete blood count, ALT, AST, Bl. urea, s. creatinine and serum ferritin). All patients were evaluated using 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring (Holter) and echocardiography, while only 15 patients with Ý- TM and 15 patients with Ý- TI were evaluated using CMRIT2*

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