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Abstract #3660

Monitoring Iron Chelation Effect in Hearts of Thalassaemia Patients with Improved Sensitivity Using Reduced Transverse Relaxation Rate (RR2)

Jerry S. Cheung1,2, Wing-Yan Au3, Shau-Yin Ha4, Jens H. Jensen5, Dan Kim5, Abby Y. Ding1,2, Iris Y. Zhou1,2, Hua Guo5, Truman R. Brown6, Winnie C.W. Chu7, Darshana D. Rasalkar7, Pek-Lan Khong8, Gary M. Brittenham9, Ed X. Wu1,2

1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; 3Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; 4Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; 5Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States; 6Department of Radiology, Columbia University, New York, United States; 7Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 8Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; 9Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, New York, United States


Accurate MRI characterization of myocardial iron is needed to improve the diagnosis and management of thalassaemia patients with transfusional iron overload. This study aimed to demonstrate that a new transverse relaxation index, the reduced R2 (RR2) that is estimated from non-monoexponential multi-echo CPMG signal decay and sensitive to ferritin iron, could detect the myocardial iron changes immediately following 1-week iron chelation suspension in thalassaemia patients at 3T.

Keywords

ironchelationhong