Thalassemia Patients and Friends
Discussion Forums => Iron Chelation Corner => Topic started by: cherylnormwg on August 17, 2011, 09:25:00 PM
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We have a doctors appt. next week tuesday with our daughters hematologist. I am trying to find out before we go what are a persons liver numbers when they go on exjade. She had a liver biopsy done and her number was 7561 mcg/gm dry weight. I hope that makes sense to some of you because it doesnt make sense to me. She is 5 1/2 if that makes a difference to Thank you for any info you might have.
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The liver biopsy is done to measure iron load. I am actually quite surprised a biopsy was done, as normally an MRI is now used to measure liver iron concentrations, is far more accurate and non-invasive. These are not the numbers that will be measured monthly while using Exjade. Those are the ALT scores and have no relation to the biopsy number. Her iron level is borderline and definitely the iron needs to be addressed. It's best to start on a low dose and work your way up to the normal dose, to reduce side effects. Also, please keep in mind that the recent study resulted in a recommendation from Novartis that Exjade can be mixed with a variety of foods and juices.