title: Single Breath-Hold Physiotherapy Technique: Effective tool for T2* magnetic resonance imaging in young patients with thalassaemia major.
abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging using T2* (MRI T2*) is a highly sensitive and non-invasive technique for the detection of tissue iron load. Although the single breath-hold multi-echo T2* technique has been available at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman, since 2006, it could not be performed on younger patients due to their inability to hold their breath after expiration. This study was carried out between May 2007 and May 2015 and assessed 50 SQUH thalassaemic patients aged 7-17 years old. Seven of these patients underwent baseline and one-year follow-up MRI T2* scans before receiving physiotherapy training. Subsequently, all patients were trained by a physiotherapist to hold their breath for approximately 15-20 seconds at the end of expiration before undergoing baseline and one-year follow-up MRI T2* scans. Failure rates for the pre- and post-training groups were 6.0% and 42.8%, respectively. These results indicate that the training of thalassaemic patients in breath-hold techniques is beneficial and increases rates of compliance for MRI T2* scans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman;
authors.forename: Surekha T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Mevada
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman;
authors.forename: Najma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al-Mahruqi
authors.affiliation: Nottingham Children's Hospital, Nottingham University Hospital Trust, Nottingham, UK;
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: El-Beshlawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman;; Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt;
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Shinawy
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman;
authors.forename: Mathew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zachariah
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman;
authors.forename: Abdul H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Al-Rawas
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Shahina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daar
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wali
keywords: Breath Holding; Children; Iron Overload; Oman; Physiotherapy; Thalassemia Major