Correlation between Heart, Liver and Pancreas Hemosiderosis Measured by MRI T2* among Thalassemia Major Patients from Iran

Introduction: Major thalassemia patients need lifelong transfusions. The consequence of these repeated transfusions is iron accumulation in different organs. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between heart, liver and pancreas hemosiderosisin thalassemic patients from Iran. Methods:keep their hemoglobin at a level of 7–9 gr/dL before each transfusion. Demographic data were gathered from patients’ history. MRI T2* of liver, heart and pancreas were performed for all patients. Results: There were a moderate correlation between pancreatic T2* and cardiac T2* relaxation times (r = 0.42, P < 0.001), a moderate correlation between T2* of pancreas and liver (r = 0.41, P < 0.001), and a weak correlation between T2* relaxation times of heart and liver (r = 0.31, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Poor correlation between liver and heart, as well as a weak to moderate correlation between pancreas and liver T2* relaxation times indicate that relying on liver MRI T2* to predict the exact condition of pancreas or heart iron overload might not be a reliable ap- for estimation of iron overload instead of relying on liver MRI T2.