T2* Evaluation of Iron Overload at 3T and Comparison with 1.5 T

Daniele De Marchi¹, Antonella Meloni¹, Alessia Pepe¹, Vincenzo Positano¹, Luca Menichetti¹, Petra Keilberg¹, Chiara Ardenghi¹, Federico Vivarini¹, Saveria Campisi², Massimo Lombardi¹

The relationship between T2* values at 3T and 1.5T over the range of clinical interest of tissue iron concentrations was evaluated by GRE multiecho sequences on a dedicated phantom and on thalassemia patients. A strongly significant linear relationship between T2* values at 1.5T and at 3T was found for both liver and phantoms data. The slope was about 0.6, with a negligible intercept. The distribution of T2* values in heart did not allow to establish the relationship between T2* values at 1.5T and at 3T in heart.