Hahalis George, Kalogeropoulos Andreas, Terzis George, Tselepis Alexandros D, Kourakli Alexandra, Mylona Panagiota, Grapsas Nikos, Alexopoulos Dimitrios
Department of Cardiology, University of Patras Medical School, Rio, Greece. ghahalis @ otenet.gr
Cardiology. 2011;118(3):159-63. doi: 10.1159/000327997. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
β-Thalassemias are inherited hemolytic anemias with a broad phenotype and an increased rate of vascular complications despite a near absence of coronary artery disease.
We investigated the presence of endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis in non-transfusion-dependent patients with β-thalassemia intermedia (β-TI) by means of flow-mediated (FMD) and flow-independent (FID) brachial artery dilatation and carotid artery intima-media thickness.
In 20 nondiabetic young adults with β-TI, FMD (6.6 ± 3.7 vs. 10.3 ± 3.1%; p = 0.002) and FID (14.0 ± 4.7 vs. 18.0 ± 5.6%; p = 0.02) were both lower relative to the values in 20 matched control subjects, whereas the intima-media thickness was increased (0.51 ± 0.09 vs. 0.46 ± 0.07 mm; p = 0.049). Fibrin generation, soluble endothelial activation markers, and proinflammatory proteins were higher in the patient group, while the plasma cholesterol level was lower.
These findings indicate premature atherosclerosis among patients with β-TI; this is in accord with the high incidence of noncoronary vascular episodes in β-TI.
β地中海贫血是一种遗传性溶血性贫血，具有广泛的表型，尽管冠状动脉疾病几乎不存在，但血管并发症发生率有所增加。
我们通过血流介导的肱动脉扩张（FMD）、非血流介导的肱动脉扩张（FID）和颈动脉内膜中层厚度，研究了中间型β地中海贫血（β-TI）非输血依赖患者的内皮功能障碍和亚临床动脉粥样硬化情况。
20例非糖尿病的年轻β-TI患者的FMD（6.6±3.7%对10.3±3.1%；p = 0.002）和FID（14.0±4.7%对18.0±5.6%；p = 0.02）均低于20例匹配对照受试者的值，而内膜中层厚度增加（0.51±0.09毫米对0.46±0.07毫米；p = 0.049）。患者组的纤维蛋白生成、可溶性内皮激活标志物和促炎蛋白水平较高，而血浆胆固醇水平较低。
这些发现表明β-TI患者存在动脉粥样硬化过早发生的情况；这与β-TI中非冠状动脉血管事件的高发生率一致。
