Assessment of the distribution of pancreatic iron deposition in non-transfusion dependent thalassemia

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the homogeneity of pancreatic iron deposition in non-transfusion dependent thalassemia (NTDT).

Methods: The segments (head, body, and tail) R2* of the pancreas were measured separately in 119 cases that underwent pancreatic magnetic resonance imaging multi-echo gradient sequences of NTDT and analyzed the consistency.

Results: The median R2* values for pancreas: head = 26.7 1/s, body = 26.5 1/s, tail = 24.9 1/s, and the analysis showed no significant differences in pancreatic segments R2* value (P = 0.204). There were no significant difference in pancreatic segments R2* values within the subgroup of sex, heart iron degree, liver iron degree and pancreatic iron degree (all P > 0.05). There is a moderate correlation between the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation of R2* values for each segment of the pancreas and the mean value of the pancreas (r = 0.683, P < 0.001; r = 0.411, P < 0.001), R2* values were no different among pancreatic segments in the extremely severe iron overload group (with three times R2* the pancreatic Oiron overload threshold).

Conclusion: There were no significant differences in pancreatic iron deposition among the segments in NTDT, and R2* values for single-segment could be selected to assess the overall iron deposition of the pancreas.

Keywords: Iron deposition; Magnetic resonance imaging; Multi-echo gradient sequence; Non-transfusion dependent thalassemia; Pancreas.