MODEL RELEASED. Thalassaemia treatment consultation. Doctor discussing treatment options with a thalassaemia patient. Thalassaemia is an inherited condition where the red blood cells are fragile and easily damaged. Patients require regular blood transfusions, but this raises the levels of iron in the blood. The excess iron can be removed by treatment with a chelating agent, in this case Desferal (deferoxamine). The chelating agent will be added with the device at lower left, the Crono ambulatory infusion pump from Microjet. It uses a pressure pump to infuse the drug through a subcutaneous needle inserted under the patient's skin (see M728/043 and M728/044).