One-stop measurement of iron deposition in the anterior pituitary, liver, and heart in thalassemia p
June 28th, 2008 | by admin |One-stop measurement of iron deposition in the anterior pituitary, liver, and heart in thalassemia patients.
PURPOSE: To assess the feasibility of one-stop evaluation of iron load of myocardium, liver, and anterior pituitary gland in thalassemia patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty thalassemia major patients underwent a breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequence for assessment of T2* for liver and myocardium, a short axis cine trueFISP sequence covering base to apex to assess the ejection fraction of left ventricle, and a turbo spin echo T2-weighted sequence for the anterior pituitary gland. The MRI parameters were correlated with serum growth hormone, insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1), insulin growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), and endocrine failure. RESULTS: Ferritin was found to be associated with T2* liver (P < 0.005), T2SI (signal intensity) pituitary (P = 0.001), and T2 pituitary/fat (P = 0.001), but not with T2* heart. There was significant correlation of T2SI pituitary with IGF-1 and IGFBP-3. T2* liver (P < 0.001), T2* heart (P < 0.001), pituitary SI (P < 0.001) and pituitary/fat SI (P = 0.002) were also found to be significantly correlated with a history of hypogonadism. T2* heart was also found to be significantly correlated with IGF-1. CONCLUSION: A quick MRI protocol for assessment of T2* liver, T2* heart, and T2SI pituitary is technically feasible. This might form an objective basis to monitor the response to different organs to chelation therapy. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Lam WW, Au WY, Chu WC, Tam S, Ha SY, Pennell DJ.
Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR.