TY - JOUR
TI - Quantification of liver iron overload by T2 quantitative magnetic
resonance imaging in thalassemia: Impact of chronic hepatitis C on
measurements
AU - Papakonstantinou, O
AU - Kostaridou, S
AU - Maris, T
AU - Gouliamos, A and
AU - Premetis, E
AU - Kouloulias, V
AU - Nakopoulou, L
AU - Kattamis, C
JO - Journal of Pediatric Hematology / Oncology
PY - 1999
VL - 21
TODO - 2
SP - 142-148
PB - Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
SN - 1077-4114, 1536-3678
TODO - 10.1097/00043426-199903000-00011
TODO - liver magnetic resonance studies; iron overload; thalassemia; chronic
hepatitis; hepatitis
TODO - Purpose: Measurement of liver T2 values seems to be an accurate and
sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for the quantification
of liver hemosiderosis in multiple transfused patients with thalassemia.
Because many of these patients have coexistent chronic hepatitis C virus
(HCV) infection, the effect of inflammatory changes on liver T2 values
was assessed.
Materials and Methods: Liver MRI studies of 35 HCV+ and 17 HCV- patients
with beta-thalassemia, 9 HCV+ patients without thalassemia, and 10
healthy controls of the same age range (13 to 32 years) were reviewed.
Iron status was assessed by serum ferritin in all patients, and
determination of liver iron concentration (LIC) was available in 16 HCV+
patients with thalassemia. Histologic activity index (HAI) and grades of
siderosis were evaluated in all HCV+ patients with thalassemia.
Results: Patients with thalassemia had significantly lower T2 values (P
< 0.0001) than subjects without thalassemia, whereas no difference
existed between HCV+ patients without thalassemia and healthy controls.
In HCV+ patients, LIC correlated more nearly with T2 values (r = 0.93)
than with serum ferritin (r = 0.73). T2 values were not influenced by
HAI score or fibrosis.
Conclusion: Liver T2 values were found to be more accurate than serum
ferritin in predicting liver iron overload and were not influenced by
the presence of chronic hepatitis C. Therefore, MRI could serve as a
noninvasive alternative to liver biopsy for the quantification of
hemosiderosis in HCV+ patients with thalassemia.
ER -