Purpose: To develop a method to estimate total iron load of the whole liver. Methods: Multi gradient-echo pulse sequence was applied to 17 patients with varying degrees of liver iron content (LIC). LIC was measured via T2* mapping on a voxel-by-voxel basis. Liver was segmented with a semi-automated dual-clustering method. Total iron load was estimated by numerically integrating the LIC histogram. Results: This assessment of iron load presents a noninvasive whole liver alternative to liver biopsies. Conclusion: T2* relaxometry and segmentation provide a novel method for iron content quantification at the organ level that can easily be adapted in clinics.
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