Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Phase IV Study of the Use of Sequential DFP-DFO Versus DFP in Thalassemia Major Patients
Brief Summary: Changes in chelation treatment and transfusion practices, during the past two decades, have dramatically improved the prognosis of thalassemia major patients.Deferiprone (DFP) has been compared with deferoxamine (DFO), using different schedules of treatment, in the majority of the 13 clinical trials published between 1990 and 2008.No statistically significant difference was shown between these two interventions during, at most, 18 months of treatment.Three randomised trials that compared sequential DFP-DFO treatment versus DFO alone reported controversial results but this could be due to small sample sizes and short treatment duration. In fact, no trial with treatment duration longer than 18 months15, which reported on mortality, adverse events, serum ferritin concentrations, as well as costs has so far been published.

This long-term sequential DFP-DFO treatment versus DFP alone treatment trial was conducted to assess the impacts of these chelation treatments on serum ferritin concentrations, mortality, adverse events, and costs in thalassemia major patients.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* Thalassemia major patients with serum ferritin concentration between 800 to 3,000 ng/ml and were over 13 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

* Known intolerance to one of the trial treatments
* Platelet count \< 100,000/mm3 or or leukocyte count \< 3,000/mm3
* Severe liver damage indicated by ascites
* Heart failure
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* Beta-thalassemia patients already treated with or suitable for treatment with deferoxamine 20 to 40 mg/kg/day
* Liver iron content greater than 2 mg iron/g dw as measured by liver biopsy
* Need for regular transfusions 8 or more times per year

Exclusion Criteria:

* Non-transfusional iron overload or transfusion-dependent anemias other than beta-thalassemia.
* Documented toxicity to deferoxamine
* Elevated liver enzymes in the year preceeding enrollment
* Active hepatitis B or hepatitis C
* HIV seropositivity
* Elevated serum creatinine or significant proteinuria
* History of nephrotic syndrome
* Uncontrolled systemic hypertension
* Fever and other signs/symptoms of infection within 10 days prior to start of the study
* Presence of clinically relevant cataract or previous history of clinically relevant ocular toxicity related to iron chelation
* Second or third degree AV block, clinically relevant Q-T interval prolongation, or patients requiring digoxin or other drugs that prolong the Q-T interval
* Diseases (cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, etc.)that would prevent the patient from undergoing any of the treatment options
* Psychiatric or additive disorders that would prevent the patient from giving informed consent
* History of drug or alcohol abuse within the 12 months prior to the study
* Pregnant or breast feeding patients
* Patients treated with systemic investigational drugs within 4 weeks or topical investigational drugs within 7 days before the start of the study
* Any surgical or medical condition that might significantly alter the absorption, distribution, metabolism or excretion of any drug, such as gastrointestinal disease or major surgery, renal disease, difficulty voiding or urinary obstruction, or impaired pancreatic function.
* Non-compliant or unreliable patients.
* Patients unable to undergo any study procedures such as the hearing or eye tests, or the liver echocardiography.
* Inability to undergo a liver biopsy.
* Patients that would need a dose of ICL670 less than 125 mg per day.
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* Beta thalassemia major
* Maintaining pre-transfusion hemoglobin of 9 g/dL
* Myocardial T2\* between 8 and 20 ms
* Ability to give informed consent
* Male or female
* Age \>18 years
* Any ejection fraction
* Confirmation of effective contraception throughout the trial (both men and women)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Implant incompatible with MR (magnetic resonance), such as pacemaker, claustrophobia, or other condition making CMR impossible or inadvisable
* Neutropenia within 12 months (ANC \<1.5 x10\^9/L), unless normal at screening
* Thrombocytopenia within 12 months (\<50 x10\^9/L), unless normal at screening
* Liver enzymes \> 3 times upper limit of normal
* Patients who have previously received deferiprone for a total of more than 6 months over the last 5 years.
* Patients with a previous reaction to deferiprone
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* Iron-overloaded patients without prior iron chelation therapy as well as pretreated patients
* Age: 4 years and older
* Sex: male and female
* Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Children \< 4 years of age
* Patients non-compliant to DFO or L1
* Patients with known DFO or L1 toxicity/intolerance
* Neutropenia (neutrophils \< 1.5 x 10exp9/L)
* Thrombocytopenia (platelets \< 100 x 10exp9/L)
* Renal, hepatic (liver enzymes 2.5x of upper normal level and higher) or decompensated heart failure
* Active viral illness currently treated with interferon-alpha/ribavirin
* Patients with repeated Yersinia infections
* HIV-positivity
* Pregnancy and nursing
* Female and male of reproductive age planning for family, sexually active but not taking adequate contraceptive precaution

Answer: A