Iron Overload and Transient Elastography in Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome
Iron Overload and Transient Elastography in Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome
Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have an ineffective hemopoiesis and often suffer from anemia. This can lead to red blood cell transfusion dependency and iron overload. Iron overload can affect the liver and lead to liver fibrosis and worst case cirrhosis. Ferritin is usually used to monitor the iron overload. In this study MDS patients will have a transient elastography performed which measures the liver's stiffness. The purpose is to investigate whether liver stiffness measurements are coherent to ferritin levels.
Transient elastography is noninvasive and has no side effects. No liver biopsy will be performed due to serious side-effects and risks in this patientgroup.
The results of the transient elastography will be compared to the patient's ferritin levels and the numbers of months the patients have had MDS to find out if there is a correlation. Furthermore we will compare the liver stiffness measurements in the patients with higher ferritin levels to those who have lower ferritin levels. We will also compare the liver stiffness measurements in patients who are red blood cell transfusion dependent compared to those who are red blood cell transfusion independent. We will also compare liver stiffness measurements in the patients with a high alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) compared to those with normal ALAT.
Inclusion Criteria:
Among these:
Exclusion Criteria:
Body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher than 30
- History with other known liver diseases
Among these: