| Objective To explore the curative effect of deferoxamine (DFO) on bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with osteoporosis induced by transfusion-associated iron overload. Methods BMD and serum biochemical indexes were measured at baseline and end of DFO treatment in all of 22 patients. The differences between baseline and end of the treatment were studied with paired t-test and Wilcoxon nonparametric test. Results A significant decrease in serum ferritin was observed (2019.95 ± 630.77 at baseline to 843.61 ± 91.01 ng/mL, P<0.05) and a significant increase in femoral and lumbar BMD was observed (0.73 ± 0.12, 0.92 ± 0.14 g/cm2 at baseline to 0.77 ± 0.09, 0.94 ± 0.14 g/cm2, respectively, P<0.05). The number of patients with normal bone mass, osteopenia, and osteoporosis was significant difference (4, 12, 6 patients at baseline to 10, 11, 1 patients, respectively, P<0.05). Conclusion Decreasing iron overload improves the low bone mass in patients with transfusion-associated iron overload. The results provide new clinical evidence for the use of DFO in the patients with osteoporosis induced by transfusion-associated iron overload. |