The Lakhal-Littleton Group's latest study on intravenous iron therapy has been published in the European Journal of Heart Failure. This research takes us a step closer to understanding the determinants of clinical responses to intravenous iron therapy in patients with iron deficiency and heart failure.
Many patients with heart failure (HF) are iron-deficient. Intravenous iron therapy improves symptoms and reduces hospitalizations for HF. Several mechanisms have been proposed, including myocardial iron repletion. However, it is unknown if serum iron markers predict the extent of this repletion. To address this question, data from two clinical studies that evaluated changes in myocardial iron using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) were harnessed.
The data points towards the hypothesis that functional Iron Deficiency, which is characterized by elevated ferritin, could limit myocardial iron repletion after IV iron therapy, by favouring iron trapping in the spleen. It highlights the need for a larger study that formally examines the relationship between myocardial iron repletion and improvements in echocardiographic and clinical outcomes across the ferrokinetic spectrum.
This study is the product of synergy between our team in Oxford and the team of Julio Nunez in Valencia. Much more can be learnt when clinicians and translational scientists work together, ultimately for patient benefit.
Read the paper here