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Abstract #0702

Brain Iron: Comparison of Postmortem SWI with Chemical Tissue Analysis

Nikolaus Krebs1, Christian Langkammer, 12, Walter Goessler3, Franz Fazekas2, Kathrin Yen1, Stefan Ropele2, Eva Scheurer1

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


Certain neurodegenerative diseases are associated with increased iron concentration in specified brain regions. To provide an up to date basis for validation of MR-based assessment of brain iron content, iron concentrations in selected grey and white matter regions of postmortem human brains were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) and compared to corresponding susceptibility weighted images (SWI). Measured iron concentrations were in good agreement in most brain regions with values published before. Visual comparison of the measured results with contrast in SWI showed that areas with high iron content correlate well with hypointense regions.

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