HA LT Thalassemia

Importance of hyaluronic acid determination in patients with thalassemia demonstrated for the first time

Clinicians of the “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital in Athens, Greece, published for the first time results of hyaluronic acid determinations (Wako’s HA LT test) using a Siemens ADVIA^® 1800 Clinical Chemistry Analyzer and the Hepascore algorithm in 201 patients with thalassemia major.

Patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major often develop chronic liver disease. The main causes are the hepatic iron overload and chronic infections, mostly with HCV. In their study Dr. Papastamataki and colleagues observed significantly elevated HA levels in the 41 patients with additional chronic HCV. In total, 110 out of 201 patients showed elevated HA concentrations. No significant correlation was determined between HA levels and/or Hepascore with ferritin and liver iron content. It is well known that there is no direct correlation between liver fibrosis and liver siderosis, whereas HA is a well known marker for liver fibrosis in HCV patients.

The authors conclude that HA measurements contribute to the assessment of liver fibrosis in thalassemia major. This marker might be useful to decide  if a liver biopsy is truly needed.

Click here for the abstract.

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