Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatment for thalassemia depends on which type you have and how severe it is.
Treatments for mild thalassemia
Signs and symptoms are usually mild with thalassemia minor and little, if any, treatment is needed. Occasionally, you may need a blood transfusion, particularly after surgery, after having a baby or if you develop an infection.
Treatment for moderate to severe thalassemia
These more severe forms of thalassemia often require frequent blood transfusions, possibly eight or more each year. Over time, blood transfusions cause a buildup of iron in your blood, which can damage your heart, liver and other organs. To help your body get rid of the extra iron, you may need to take medications known as "iron chelators." These medications may be given as a pill or as an infusion under your skin (subcutaneous).
In some cases, a bone marrow transplant or a stem cell transplant may be used to treat severe thalassemia. However, because these procedures have serious risks, including death, they're generally reserved for people with the most severe disease who have a well-matched sibling donor available.
- What are thalassemias? National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Thalassemia/Thalassemia_All.html. Accessed Nov. 19, 2008.
- Cunningham MJ. Update on thalassemia: Clinical care and complications. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 2008;55:447.
- Benz EJ. Clinical manifestations of the thalassemias. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2008.
- Schrier SL. Pathophysiology of beta thalassemia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2008.
- Embury SH. Prenatal testing for the hemoglobinopathies and thalassemias. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2008.
- Benz EJ. Treatment of beta thalassemia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2008.
