Priapism in a 15-year-old boy with major beta-thalassemia.

Received May 2007 Accepted September 2007 INTRODUCTION Priapism (painful erection longer than 6 hours) is an uncommon disease that is almost always due to thromboembolic problems. It may occur at any age. The predisposing factors for priapism include thromboembolic disorders such as sickle cell anemia (SCA, the most common cause), sicklebeta-thalassemia, diseases of the central nervous system and the spinal cord, metastatic cancers, trauma, iatrogenic factors, and infectious diseases (malaria and rabies).(1) We present an adolescent patient with major beta-thalassemia who suffered from an episode of priapism. To our knowledge, no other cases of priapism have been reported in association with major beta-thalassemia, to date.