Liang Linlin, Xiao Fangyan, Li Meicheng, Xu Fengming, Peng Fei, Luo Chaotian, Tang Cheng, Peng Peng
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
NHC Key Laboratory of Thalassemia Medicine, Nanning, China.
J Magn Reson Imaging. 2025 Mar;61(3):1378-1385. doi: 10.1002/jmri.29534. Epub 2024 Aug 21.
Myocardial iron overload can lead to myocardial dysfunction, muscle cell injury, and end-stage heart failure. The enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and technical advancements have made 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) more accessible in clinical settings. However, 3 T assessments for early diagnosis of myocardial iron overload are scarce.
To evaluate the feasibility of myocardial iron quantification using 3 T MRI in a rabbit model of iron overload.
Animal model.
Overall, 40 male New Zealand white rabbits were categorized into control (N = 8; no treatment) and experimental (N = 32; weekly 200 mg/kg iron dextran injections) groups.
3 T MRI with multi-echo gradient echo (ME-GRE) T2* sequence.
Each week, two experimental rabbits were randomly selected for blood collection to determine serum iron (SI) levels; their tissue was harvested to assess myocardial and hepatic iron deposition.
Spearman's rank correlation tests were used to evaluate the correlations among R2*, cardiac iron concentration (CIC), liver iron concentration (LIC), total amount of iron injected, and SI levels. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The myocardial T2* value in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group. An excellent correlation was observed between R2* values and CIC (r = 0.854). CIC moderately correlated with LIC (r = 0.712) and the total amount of iron injected (r = 0.698). A strong correlation was observed between the total amount of iron injected and LIC (r = 0.866). SI levels poorly correlated with the total amount of iron injected (r = 0.205, P = 0.277) and LIC (r = 0.170, P = 0.370) but fairly correlated with CIC (r = 0.415, P = 0.022).
A 3 T MRI with an ME-GRE sequence may serve as a noninvasive method for evaluating cardiac iron content.
N/A TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.
心肌铁过载可导致心肌功能障碍、肌肉细胞损伤及终末期心力衰竭。信噪比的提高和技术进步使3T磁共振成像（MRI）在临床环境中更易获得。然而，用于心肌铁过载早期诊断的3T评估较少。
评估在铁过载兔模型中使用3T MRI进行心肌铁定量的可行性。
动物模型。
总共40只雄性新西兰白兔被分为对照组（N = 8；未治疗）和实验组（N = 32；每周注射200mg/kg葡聚糖铁）。
采用多回波梯度回波（ME-GRE）T2*序列的3T MRI。
每周随机选择两只实验兔采血以测定血清铁（SI）水平；采集其组织以评估心肌和肝脏铁沉积。
采用Spearman等级相关检验评估R2*、心脏铁浓度（CIC）、肝脏铁浓度（LIC）、注射铁总量和SI水平之间的相关性。P≤0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
实验组的心肌T2值显著低于对照组。R2值与CIC之间观察到极好的相关性（r = 0.854）。CIC与LIC（r = 0.712）和注射铁总量（r = 0.698）中度相关。注射铁总量与LIC之间观察到强相关性（r = 0.866）。SI水平与注射铁总量（r = 0.205，P = 0.277）和LIC（r = 0.170，P = 0.370）相关性较差，但与CIC相关性较好（r = 0.415，P = 0.022）。
采用ME-GRE序列的3T MRI可作为评估心脏铁含量的非侵入性方法。
无 技术效能：1级
