What is iron overload, and how it is treated?

Learn more about MDS at MDS experts, Dr Rafael Bejar and Dr Casey O’Connell describe what iron overload is and how it treated. They explain that frequent blood transfusions can cause extra iron to build up in the body over time, leading to a condition called iron overload. The extra iron may harm your liver and other organs. A ferritin blood test is used to monitor how much iron is accumulating in the body. If ferritin levels exceed 1000, chelation therapy will be used to remove extra iron, and this treatment can be quite effective over long periods of time. They also discuss some of the potential side effects of chelation therapy.