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Complications of Thalassaemia

Iron Built-up

Constant blood transfusion results in iron built-up and ends up damaging different parts of the body, which includes the heart, the liver, the pancreas, and the secretory organs. Patients may have heart failure, cirrhosis, liver dysfunction, and diabetes as well as suffering from poor growth due to several endocrine disorders.

Unpleasant Responses from Blood Transfusion

Unpleasant responses from blood transfusions include fevers, rigor, erythema, and etc. Some much more serious illnesses do occur, such as acute haemolysis, contraction of the trachea, and hypotension, but these have less of a chance to develop but that does not mean that we should ignore them.

Infection from Blood Transfusions

Viral diseases are one of the more major infective illnesses from blood transfusions. Although a lot of preventive actions are taken to reduce the chances of patients getting infected, there are still a few cases of catching hepatitis B and C. Fortunately; it is rare to catch AIDS from that. Out of all the viruses listed, only hepatitis B can be prevented through vaccination.

Enlarged Spleen

Under chronic stimulation of anaemia and haemolysis, a number of patients have been shown to have enlarged spleens, which act to worsen their conditions. Thus, they may have to transfuse more blood, which in turn results in worst iron built-up. Resection of an enlarged spleen can improve this kind of situation.

Formation of Gallstone

Constant haemolysis makes the patient likely to have gallstones with epigastric pain, yellowed skin along with yellowed eyes where it should be white, and tea-coloured urine.

Side Effect of Desferal

Taking Desferal may also affect eyesight, hearing, and growth of the bones. As a result, the proportion of Desferal taken should be decided by doctors, but not the patients themselves.