Multislice Multiecho T2* MRI Assessment of Regional Pancreatic Iron Overload and Correlation with Cardiac Biventricular Function and Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia Major Patients.

Gennaro Restaino¹, Antonella Meloni², Alessia Pepe², Vincenzo Positano², Massimiliano Missere¹, Pasquale Pepe², Daniele De Marchi², Giuseppina Secchi³, Antongiulio Luciani⁴, Giuseppina Sallustio¹, Massimo Lombardi²

The aims of this study were to describe the T2* values of the pancreas in patients with TM, to investigate the correlation between pancreatic and myocardial siderosis and to investigate the correlation between pancreatic iron overload and biventricular cardiac function. The mean T2* over the pancreatic head was significantly higher than the mean T2* value over the pancreatic body and tail. Significant positive correlations of the pancreatic T2* were demonstrated for global heart T2* value and number of segments with normal T2*. Moreover, pancreatic iron overload was negatively correlated to biventricular systolic function.