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Iron chelation therapy for myelodysplastic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Iron overload remains a concern in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients especially those requiring recurrent blood transfusions. Whether iron chelating therapy (ICT) is beneficial to the long-term survival of myelodysplastic syndrome is still a controversial issue. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the relationship between ICT and long-term survival in patients with MDS. A total of 14 studies involving 7242 participants were identified; the outcomes revealed that for patients with MDS, ICT resulted in a lower risk of mortality compared to those with no ICT (HR 0.57; 95% CI 0.44–0.70; P < 0.001); what is more, ICT led to a lower risk of leukemia transformation (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.52–0.93; P = 0.016). Results of subgroup analyses based on adequate ICT or any ICT, low/int-1 IPSS or unclassified IPSS and study types indicated that the ICT had a beneficial role in all these groups of patients.

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Funding

This manuscript was supported by Shaanxi International Scientific Research Cooperation and Exchange Program (Grant Number: 2016KW-020).

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  1. Department of Clinical Hematology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, West Five Road, No. 157, Xi’an, 710004, Shaanxi Province, China

    Hailing Liu, Nan Yang, Shan Meng, Yang Zhang, Hui Zhang & Wanggang Zhang

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  1. Hailing Liu
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Liu, H., Yang, N., Meng, S. et al. Iron chelation therapy for myelodysplastic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Exp Med 20, 1–9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00592-5

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