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Old Wed Dec 11, 2013, 09:32 AM
Marlene Marlene is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Springfield, VA
Posts: 1,406
John was on lower doses of Exjade and it really took a long for the FE to come down. And at the time, he was not transfusion dependent. FE fluctuates too much to be a used as a reliable indicator of iron excretion.

If I am remembering correctly, each unit of packed red cells has 200 - 250 mg of iron.

This is from the RXlist.com http://www.rxlist.com/exjade-drug/cl...armacology.htm

"Pharmacodynamic effects tested in an iron balance metabolic study showed that deferasirox (10, 20, and 40 mg per kg per day) was able to induce a mean net iron excretion (0.119, 0.329, and 0.445 mg Fe/kg body weight per day, respectively) within the clinically relevant range (0.1-0.5 mg per kg per day). Iron excretion was predominantly fecal."

It's very difficult to reduce iron while still transfusion dependent. Sometime all you can do is stop or slow down further accumulation. A lot depend on the dosage you are taking. We knew of one person who did IV desferal 24/7 in order to get his FE lowered. That was a very aggressive approach.
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Marlene, wife to John DX w/SAA April 2002, Stable partial remission; Treated with High Dose Cytoxan, Johns Hopkins, June 2002. Final phlebotomy 11/2016. As of July 2021 HGB 12.0, WBC 4.70/ANC 3.85, Plts 110K.
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