Assessment of cardiac and liver iron overload by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with thalassemia major: short-term follow-up

Abstract

Objective This study was performed to assess cardiac and hepatic iron overload in young patients with thalassemia. Methods We reviewed the medical records of patients with thalassemia at a pediatric hematology clinic who had recently undergone cardiac and hepatic magnetic resonance imaging. Results Eleven patients underwent cardiac and hepatic T2* imaging at a mean age of 13.9 ± 4.48 (range, 9–21) years. Three patients had cardiac iron overload and all patients had hepatic iron overload according to the magnetic resonance imaging scan. Ten patients underwent control imaging approximately 1 year later. The mean serum ferritin level at the initial imaging examination was 1820.87 ± 1275.22 (range, 634.04–4221.03) ng/mL. There was a strong negative correlation between the ferritin level and cardiac T2* time and between the blood hemoglobin level and hepatic T2* time. Among the 10 patients who underwent control imaging, the average hemoglobin and ferritin levels significantly decreased from the initial to control imaging examinations, but there was no significant increase in the cardiac and hepatic T2*times. Conclusions Cardiac and hepatic T2* imaging is a feasible method of assessing cardiac and hepatic iron overload even before complications and clinical signs of iron overload appear.