| Abstrakt: |
Thalassemia is the most common inherited single-gene (autosomal recessive) disorder in the world. Scientists worldwide predict that thalassemia will become a considerable health issue in the next century. It is a new disease entity for Ayurvedic medicine, and hence, it is called Anukta Vyadhi in Ayurveda; but we can understand it by careful scrutiny of the clinical presentation and the investigation results described in the available literature. Modern medical management is aimed at maintaining the hemoglobin level at 10 - 12 g/dl. A post-transfusion hemoglobin level of 9.5 g/dl is said to be sufficient to maintain active life. Thus, blood transfusion therapy is the only treatment, but it can result in hemosiderosis (iron overload), a complication with a fatal outcome. The transfusional iron overload is compounded by increased intestinal absorption of iron. The most important factors associated with survival, and also those deciding the outcome of bone marrow transplant (the only curative therapy) are, age at which chelation therapy is introduced and the success with which serum ferritin is maintained below 2500 ng/ml. Iron chelators used in modern medicine to achieve this goal are expensive and associated with side effects, and hence, associated with poor adherence to the treatment. The present study is an endeavor to explore the efficacy of Triphaladi Avaleha as an iron chelator in the management of thalassemia, in comparison to a control group managed by routine modern therapy. |
