MR characterization of hepatic storage iron in transfusional iron overload. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • PURPOSE: To quantify the two principal forms of hepatic storage iron, diffuse, soluble iron (primarily ferritin), and aggregated, insoluble iron (primarily hemosiderin) using a new MRI method in patients with transfusional iron overload. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six healthy volunteers and 20 patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia syndromes and iron overload were examined. Ferritin- and hemosiderin-like iron were determined based on the measurement of two distinct relaxation parameters: the "reduced" transverse relaxation rate, RR2 , and the "aggregation index," A, using three sets of Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) datasets with different interecho spacings. Agarose phantoms, simulating the relaxation and susceptibility properties of tissue with different concentrations of dispersed (ferritin-like) and aggregated (hemosiderin-like) iron, were used for validation. RESULTS: Both phantom and in vivo human data confirmed that transverse relaxation components associated with the dispersed and aggregated iron could be separated using the two-parameter (RR2 , A) method. The MRI-determined total hepatic storage iron was highly correlated (r = 0.95) with measurements derived from biopsy or biosusceptometry. As total hepatic storage iron increased, the proportion stored as aggregated iron became greater. CONCLUSION: This method provides a new means for noninvasive MRI determination of the partition of hepatic storage iron between ferritin and hemosiderin in iron overload disorders.

publication date

  • May 29, 2013

Research

keywords

  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
  • Iron Overload
  • Liver Diseases
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Thalassemia

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC3761000

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84892832121

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/jmri.24171

PubMed ID

  • 23720394

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 39

issue

  • 2