Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases (Jan 2020)

Comparison of liver MRI R2(FerriScan®) VS liver MRI T2* as a measure of body iron load in a cohort of beta thalassaemia major patients

  • Padmapani Padeniya,
  • Shirom Siriwardana,
  • Dileepa Ediriweera,
  • Nayana Samarasinghe,
  • Sasanka Silva,
  • Ishari Silva,
  • Nizri Ahamed,
  • Madunil Niriella,
  • Anuja Premawardhena

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-020-1301-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 4

Abstract

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Abstract To compare the similarity of the non-patented T2* and the high cost patented R2 (Ferriscan®) MRI techniques in the measurement of liver iron concentration (LIC) in heavily transfused patients with thalassaemia major in a real- life Sri Lankan hospital setup. We compared LIC measured by MRI, obtained 2 weeks apart, using both T2* and R2 techniques in 15 patients with beta thalassaemia major. They all had a history of > 100 units of blood transfusions life long and also a history of sub optimal chelation. MRI R2 and MRI T2* scan values showed a negative correlation (co-rrelation coefficient = − 0.63, p = 0.01) This correlation was strong in lower LICs and progressively decreased with upper LIC values. Thus a significant discrepancy was observed between median values of two MRI technologies (p = 0.0005) with T2* tending to underestimate iron overload especially in those with very high LIC identified by R2. The lack of concordance of T2* and R2 especially in those with very high reading on R2 suggest the potential errors in interpretations that can occur in “non-expert centres”; which are likely to lead to errors in clinical judgement on the intensity of chelation therapy needed.

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