Meeting Banner
Abstract #4977

Iron Accumulation and Transverse Relaxation Rates: A Quantitative Postmortem Study

Christian Langkammer1,2, Nikolaus Krebs2, Walter Goessler3, Eva Scheurer2, Kathrin Yen2, Franz Fazekas1, Stefan Ropele1

1Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 2Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical-Forensic Imaging, Graz, Austria; 3Institute of Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry, University of Graz, Graz, Austria


Iron deposition in human brain tissue is commonly assessed by mapping R2 or R2* relaxation rates. The goal of our study was to validate if transverse relaxation rates can be used as sensitive and linear measures for iron concentration. R2 and R2* mapping was done in human post-mortem brains in situ. After brain extraction and fixation iron concentrations were determined in selected grey and white matter regions using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We found that both, R2 and R2* are strongly correlated with iron concentration and therefore can be used as a surrogate marker for iron deposition.