[Magnetic resonance studies of sex, age and disease relations of iron deposits in the brain].

Using a 1.5 Tesla super-conducting magnet T2 weighted images of the brain not seldom exhibit a reduced signal intensity in the region of the basal ganglia as an expression of increased iron deposits in these regions. We examined 180 patients (a control group, and groups of patients with vascular, inflammatory or tumorous disease of the brain) in order to answer the question whether the T2-relaxation times of the basal ganglia show a correlation to age, sex and the disease of the patient. We measured a significant decrease of the T2-relaxation times in women compared to men in the region of the basal ganglia. We observed increased T2-relaxation times in the region of basal ganglia with aging in the control group. We were able to show disease-specific alterations in the iron distributions in the region of the basal ganglia in patients with vascular and inflammatory disorders of the brain.