Christian Langkammer1, 2, Ferdinand Schweser3, Nikolaus Krebs2, Andreas Deistung3, Walter Goessler4, Eva Scheurer2, Karsten Sommer3, Gernot Reishofer5, Kathrin Yen6, Franz Fazekas1, Juergen R. Reichenbach3, Stefan Ropele1
1Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 2Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical-Forensic Imaging, Graz, Austria; 3Medical Physics Group, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology I, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; 4Institute of Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry, University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 5Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz; 6Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
In this study quantitative susceptibility mapping (qSM) was performed in postmortem brain in situ and correlated with iron concentration as assessed by ICP mass spectroscopy. A strong linear correlation between iron concentration and magnetic susceptibility was found which became significantly weaker when considering white matter only. These results suggest that qSM is a reliable tool to study iron levels in gray matter. Iron mapping in white matter seems to be less reliable unless the magnetic susceptibility of myelin and its orientation is not accounted for.