Hepatic iron overload: quantitative MR imaging.
Iron deposits demonstrate characteristically shortened T2 relaxation times. Several previously published studies reported poor correlation between the in vivo hepatic 1/T2 measurements made by means of midfield magnetic resonance (MR) units and the hepatic iron content of iron-overloaded patients. In this study, the authors assessed the use of in vivo 1/T2 measurements obtained by means of MR imaging at 0.5 T using short echo times (13.4 and 30 msec) and single-echo-sequences as well as computed tomographic (CT) attenuation as a measure of liver iron concentration in 10 severely iron-overloaded patients with beta-thalassemia major. The iron concentrations in surgical wedge biopsy samples of the liver, which varied between 3 and 9 mg/g of wet weight (normal, less than or equal to 0.5 mg/g), correlated well (r = .93, P less than or equal to .0001) with the preoperative in vivo hepatic 1/T2 measurements. The CT attenuation did not correlate with liver iron concentration. Quantitative MR imaging is a readily available noninvasive method for the assessment of hepatic iron concentration in iron-overloaded patients, reducing the need for needle biopsies of the liver.
Gomori
J M
JM
Department of Radiology, Jerusalem, Israel.
Horev
G
G
Tamary
H
H
Zandback
J
J
Kornreich
L
L
Zaizov
R
R
Freud
E
E
Krief
O
O
Ben-Meir
J
J
Rotem
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D065227:Transfusion Reaction
D007501:Iron