In 2010, CUHK’s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) team has provided free cardiac analyses to 153 young thalassemia major (TM) patients (median age 13) from 6 hospitals in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Nanning. This is the first ever large-scale research on iron loading and risk of death in mainland thalassemia children. The findings revealed nearly 40% of cases had abnormal cardiac iron loading, of which 24% are at immediate risk of death. A high percentage of undiagnosed iron overload means that rational iron chelation strategies cannot be implemented. If not remedied, premature cardiac failure and death is inevitable in 5 to 10 years. CUHK believes that such data will help mainland practitioners to risk-stratify TM cases by iron load and triage them to proper treatment intensity.

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