Effect of desferrioxamine in acute haemolytic anaemia of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

The effectiveness of desferrioxamine (DFO) in ameliorating the severity of the acute haemolysis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency was studied in 167 children with G6PD deficiency during an acute haemolyti c crisis. All patients received packed cell transfusion on admission if the ir Hb levels were <8 g/dl, which was repeated as needed. Eighty patients al so received a single dose of DFO 30-40 mg/kg by slow intravenous infusion ( DFO group). The remaining 87 children did not receive DFO (control group). The need for more than one transfusion was less frequent in the DFO group a s compared to the control group (p = 0.01). The need for late transfusion ( transfusion after 36 h of admission) was also less in the DFO group (7%) co mpared to 21% in the control group (p = 0.02). On average, children in the DFO group needed less packed red blood cells (16.5 ml/kg body weight) than the control group (22.8 ml/kg body weight) and the difference was highly si gnificant (p = 0.0001). We conclude from this study that DFO in a small dos e is effective in the treatment of acute haemolytic crises of G6PD deficien cy. It shortens the duration of the crisis and decreases the amount of bloo d transfusion needed.