Clinical view versus guideline adherence in ferritin monitoring and initiating iron chelation therapy in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

In this population-based study, ferritin levels were measured in <50% of MDS patients who received >20 transfusions, and clinical performance was significantly associated with measuring ferritin. Our study suggests that in heavily transfused MDS patients, ferritin monitoring is primarily based on patients' clinical performance rather than guideline recommendations.