en Cardiology Cardiology Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="color:#0033ff;"><em><strong>Background</strong>:</em></span> The most important prognostic factor in transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia is cardiac involvement, which is usually evaluated with echocardiography.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><em><strong>Methods</strong>:</em></span> In this cross-sectional study (Aprill 2011 to Aprill 2012), conventional echocardiography was used to assess myocardial performance and valvular involvement (by trans-valvular Doppler study) for right and left heart abnormalities in transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.<br> <strong><em><span style="color:#0033ff;">Results:</span></em> </strong>Among 60 patients, 43 cases had heart problems, that 26 (43.3%) of them had left myocardial dysfunction and 11 (18.3%) of them had right myocardial dysfunction, 3cases had both RV and LV myocardial dysfunction,(based on LVMPI & RVMPI, respectively). In patients with right myocardial dysfunction, 4 cases had pulmonary hypertension (PH) and 3 had both sided myocardial dysfunction. LVMPI and RVMPI were significantly increased in patients with cardiac involvement (p<0.001). Serum ferritin levels in patients with and without cardiac involvement were 2427&plusmn;1788 ng/ml and 1573&plusmn;592 ng/ml, respectively (p=0.008). All 4 patients who had PH, had been splenectomized. In splenectomized and non-splenectomized patients, LVMPI was 0.37 &plusmn; 0.11 and 0.38 &plusmn;0.1 (p = 0.589), RVMPI was 0.3&plusmn;0.07 and 0.25&plusmn;0.39 (p = 0.004), and TR gradient (TRG) was 28&plusmn;11.8 mmHg and 19.7&plusmn;5.2 mmHg (p = 0.033), respectively. Mean ferritin level in patients with a history of splenectomy (n=31), was 2525&plusmn;1968 ng/ml and in patients without the history of splenectomy (n=29), it was 1821&plusmn;947 ng/ml (p = 0.082).<br> <strong><em><span style="color:#0033ff;">Conclusion:</span></em> </strong>In addition to left-sided heart involvement, conventional echocardiography revealed right-sided heart involvement in transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients that was not correlated with serum ferritin level.in splenectomized patients.</span></span> Beta Thalassemia, Blood Transfusion, Echocardiography, Heart. 243 248 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1806-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Hossein Esfahani hesfehani@yahoo.com 100319475328460029311 100319475328460029311 No Department of Pediatric Oncology, Besat Hospital, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Asadolah Tanasan asadolahtanasan@gmail.com 100319475328460029312 100319475328460029312 Yes Department of Pediatrics, Besat Hospital, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Mina Rezanejad minarezanejad53@gmail.com 100319475328460029313 100319475328460029313 No Department of Pediatrics, Besat Hospital, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Saadat Torabian torabian_s@yahoo.com 100319475328460029314 100319475328460029314 No Department of Epidemiology, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran