Wednesday, May 9, 2012
7:15 - 8:45 PM
Corporate Forum Dinner Satellite Symposium
Program Overview:
This accredited symposium will discuss the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of patients with transfusional iron overload. Our understanding of the dangers of transfusional overload, derive largely through our experience with chronically transfused patients with thalassemia major. In fact, the median survival for these patients was about 15 years prior to the availability of iron chelation therapy. There have been tremendous advances in the past decade in our ability manage iron overload. Measurement of serum ferritin has been the primary method for monitoring total iron burden. Currently, with the ability to accurately assess hepatic iron concentration noninvasively by MRI, it is clear that iron loading occurs very rapidly in chronically transfused patients and that the distribution of iron loading in various tissues, particularly the heart differs drastically. We now have significant experience monitoring chelation therapy by MRI and it is clear that ferritin alone provides an inadequate assessment and in some cases, the trend in serum ferritin measurements over long periods of time can be opposite in direction to changes in total body iron as assessed by liver iron measurements. The degree of hepatic iron overload has no clinically significant relationship to the cardiac iron load. There are currently three iron chelators available to manage iron overload and these chelators have specific effects on different iron loaded tissues. Overwhelmingly, the major barriers to effective treatment of iron overload is poor adherence to chelation therapy. While there is a paucity of controlled data regarding combinations of key vendors, it is clear that chelators used in combination can be very effective and allow tailoring of the treatment regimen to the patient’s lifestyle. This presentation will address practical aspects of monitoring tissue iron burden and the relationship of direct tissue iron measurement to cardiac and endocrine functions as well as strategies regarding the use of combinations of iron chelators.
Program Agenda:
7:15 – 7:20 pm……………… Opening Remarks and Program Overview
7:20 – 7:55 pm……………… Update on diagnosis and monitoring of transfusional iron overload (Thomas D Coates, M.D.)
7:55 – 8:25 pm……………… What do we know about use of combinations of iron chelators? (Vasilios Berdoukas, M.B,B.S, F.R.A.C.P.)
8:25 – 8:40 pm……………… Faculty Panel Question and Answer Session
8:40 – 8:45 pm……………… Program Closing Remarks
Learning Objectives:
• Discuss the practical aspects of diagnosis and monitoring of iron over load in patients with transfusion dependent anemias.
• Discuss the relation between measures of tissue iron and end organ function
• Discuss the general approach to chelation and effects and effects on end organ function.
• Discuss the use of combinations of iron chelators
Faculty:
Thomas D Coates, M.D.
Program Chair
Division Head for Hematology
Director of the Red Cell and Hemoglobinopathy Program
Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases
Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Vasilios Berdoukas, M.B,B.S, F.R.A.C.P.
Visiting Professor of Pediatrics,
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Pediatric Research Physician
Thalassemia Unit, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital
Athens, Greece
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). MER is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Medical Education Resources designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This activity is supported by an educational grant from ApoPharma.
