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Influence of myocardial fibrosis and blood oxygenation on heart T2* values in thalassemia patients
Author(s) -
Meloni Antonella,
Pepe Alessia,
Positano Vincenzo,
Favilli Brunella,
Maggio Aurelio,
Capra Marcello,
Lo Pinto Carmela,
Gerardi Calogera,
Santarelli Maria Filomena,
Midiri Massimo,
Landini Luigi,
Lombardi Massimo
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.21704
Subject(s) - medicine , myocardial fibrosis , multislice , ventricle , fibrosis , cardiology , magnetic resonance imaging , oxygenation , pressure overload , thalassemia , radiology , heart failure , cardiac hypertrophy
Abstract Purpose To determine whether T2* measurements quantifying myocardial iron overload in thalassemia patients are influenced by myocardial fibrosis and blood oxygenation. Materials and Methods Multislice multiecho T2* was performed in 94 thalassemia patients in order to quantify myocardial iron overload. The left ventricle was automatically segmented into a 16‐segment standardized heart model, and the T2* value on each segment as well as the global T2* were calculated. Delayed enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (DE‐CMR) images were obtained to detect myocardial fibrosis. The blood oxygenation was assessed by the noninvasive measurement of partial pressure of oxygen (pO2). Results Myocardial fibrosis was detected in 31 patients (33%). The global T2* value in patients with fibrosis was comparable with that of patients without fibrosis ( P = 0.88) and T2* values in segments with fibrosis were comparable with those in segments without fibrosis ( P = 0.83). The global T2* value was not correlated with the pO2 (Spearman's coefficient of correlation = 0.99). Conclusion Myocardial fibrosis and blood oxygenation did not significantly affect the T2* values. These data further support the use of heart T2* as equivalent of heart iron in the clinical arena. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;29:832–837. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.