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Hepatic Iron Concentration: Noninvasive Estimation by Means of MR Imaging Techniques

1999; Radiological Society of North America; Volume: 212; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1148/radiology.212.1.r99jl35227

1527-1315

Herbert L. Bonkovsky, Richard B. Rubin, Edward E. Cable, Ashley Davidoff, Tammo H. Pels Rijcken, David D. Stark,

Trace Elements in Health

PURPOSE: To identify a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging method sufficiently sensitive and specific in the estimation of hepatic iron content to obviate liver biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight patients underwent percutaneous needle biopsy of the liver with chemical measurement of the hepatic iron concentration and hepatic MR imaging with several spin-echo and gradient-recalled-echo (GRE) techniques. Correlations between MR imaging parameters and the hepatic iron concentration were determined. RESULTS: Inverse curvilinear relationships were noted between several MR parameters and hepatic iron concentrations. GRE sequences with short repetition and echo times were more accurate and precise than spin-echo sequences for the estimation of hepatic iron concentration. A GRE sequence with a repetition time of 18 msec, an echo time of 5 msec, and a flip angle of 10° showed close correlation between the hepatic iron concentration and the natural logarithm of the ratio of the signal intensity of liver to the SD of background noise (r = −0.94) and low coefficient of variation (12%). CONCLUSION: MR imaging with these parameters is a rapid, noninvasive, and accurate modality for estimation of hepatic iron concentration; it is sufficiently accurate and precise to obviate liver biopsy for the purpose of measuring hepatic iron concentration.