Table 3.

Characteristics of chelating agents used in clinical practice.

	Route of administration	Adult dose	Route of metal complex excretion	Side effects
BAL	IM	5 mg/kg/day	Urine, bile, faeces, lungs	Nausea, vomiting, hypertension, tachycardia, headache
Deferiprone	Oral	50–100 mg/kg/day	Urine	CNS toxicity, lenticular opacities, arthropathy
Deferoxamine	IV	50 mg/kg/day	Urine	Nausea, weight loss, ocular toxicity
	Subcutaneously	20 mg/kg/day
Deferasirox	Oral	35 mg/kg/day	Faeces, urine	Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, elevation of liver enzymes
DMPS	Oral	300 mg three times a day	Urine	Rash, nausea, leukopenia
	IV	until 1500 mg/day
	IM	20 mg/kg/day
DMSA	Oral	30 mg/kg/day	Urine, bile, faeces, lungs	Gastrointestinal disorders (GI), skin rashes, flu-like symptoms
	IV	10 mg/kg three times a day
EDTA	IV	2 gr/week	Urine	None∗
D-Penicillamine	Oral	5–20 mg/kg/day	Urine	Degenerative dermopathy, thromboleukocytopenia, GI

^∗When used once a week at the dose reported and intravenously injected in about 2 hours.

DMPS: 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulphonic acid.

DMSA: meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid.

EDTA: CaNa₂ ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.