Answers to important questions about Thalassaemia Part 3

Question 21: Are patients with thalassemia dependant on repeated blood transfusion?
Answer: Patients with thalassemia minor either have normal or slightly less than normal level of hemoglobin; they almost never need blood transfusion. Children with thalassemia major always need blood transfusion to maintain their hemoglobin even at moderate levels. It may be said that blood transfusion is the life line for children with beta-thalassemia major.


Question 22: Why are patients with thalassemia anemia?
Answer: thalassemia is a disorder of hemoglobin synthesis. These patients not only produce fewer red cells, the hemoglobin contents of each red cell is also below normal. Life span of the red cells is also decreased. The large spleen, which almost all of these patients develop, traps and destroys many of the red cells which pass through it. All these factors contribute toward anemia in these patients.

Question 23: Is thalassemia a disorder of red cells in the blood?
Answer: thalassemia is primarily a disease of red blood cells. These are deformed, misshapen and have very small amount of hemoglobin in them. White blood cells and platelets (other two cellular elements in blood) may be only secondarily affected, if at all.

Question 24: Is thalassemia transmitted from the parents to the children through abnormal genes?
Answer: thalassemia being a genetic disorder is transmitted by the parents to their children through inheritance or genes for beta-thalassemia.

Question 25: What are the hazards of repeated blood transfusion?
Answer: Blood transfusion, as is required for patients with thalassemia, exposes them to certain hazards; these include:

1.  Excessive iron deposition in the body.
2.  Transfusion transmitted diseases like hepatitis and AIDS.
3.  Overloading the circulatory system.

Question 26: What are the symptoms which indicate that a person must Govt. for screening test?
Answer: Symptoms of thalassemia are chiefly due to anemia. These children are pale, week and sleepy. They do not take part in physical activities like normal children. Also they do not eat well, as a result they. These children are also jaundiced (Yellow discoloration of eyes).

Question 27: Can a child whose parents are carriers of thalassemia, be born without the trait?
Answer: Yes, there is a 50% chance for a child to be normal if only one parent has thalassemia trait. This is reduced to 25% if both parents have thalassemia trait.

Question 28: What are my chances of inheriting thalassemia?
Answer: Chances of inheriting thalassemia depends upon the status of the parents. This is illustrated in table.


Question 29: Can shortage of blood cause heart attack in patients who have thalassemia?
Answer: Shortage of blood (anemia) in patients with thalassemia major they does impair the function of the heart. This is called heart failure. These children do not get heart attack in the technical sense. Patients with thalassemia minor generally are not very anemia and they do not develop any cardiac symptoms due to anemia.

Question 30: What is the difference between lymphoma and leukemia?
Answer: Both leukemias and lymphomas are the malignant disorders (cancerous conditions) of the blood forming system.
Leukemia arise from the bone marrow. As the leukemic cells enter the blood stream they reach every nook and corner of the body.
Lymphomas on the other hand arise mostly from the lymph glands and cause their enlargement in the from of a localized swelling in neck, axilla, chest and abdomen. They do not, as rules, enter the blood stream hence their spread is not in leukemias. This is one of the many differences which separate leukemias from lymphomas.