Deferoxamine dosage

Deferoxamine dosages above 50mg/kg/day subcutaneously should be avoided. 

The deferoxamine dosage should be reduced if serum ferritin values are consistently below 1500-1000 ng/ml, or if the patient has reduced growth velocity. 

It is important to detect bone changes as early as possible, since a timely reduction in deferoxamine dosage or a switch to deferiprone can prevent serious skeletal injury. 

The suggested deferoxamine dosage, based on work in humans and experience in dogs, is intravenous infusion at a rate of 15 mg/kg/hr. Rapid administration may cause cardiac arrhythmia or enhance existing hypotension by promoting histamine release. 

Sensorimotor neurotoxicity, with paresthesia, areflexia, reduced vibration and position sense, muscle weakness of the arms, and concomitant disturbances of vision and hearing, has been described in two thalassemia patients during the intravenous administration of high dosages of deferoxamine (120 mg/kg/day) (28). 

The dosage of deferoxamine should be established on the basis of iron balance and dose-response curves. 

X 10 copies/ml, noimal baseline alanine aminotransferase). Deferiprone 50 mg/kg/day was added to deferoxamine 30 mgdtg on 3-S days/week and the alanine aminotransferase activity increased. Deferiprone was withdrawn and the enzyme activity fell Deferiprone was reintroduced and there was a new sustained rise in aminotransferase activity to about twice baseline. There were 139 x 10 copies/ml of HBV-DNA. Extensive testing did not identify autoantibodies. Deferiprone was withdrawn again and the HBV-DNA cleared partly within 8 weeks and alanine aminotransferase activity returned to normal. Later, deferiprone was reintroduced in the same dosage and there was no relapse of hepatitis after 24 months. 

---