Assessment of liver iron overload in thalassemic patients by MR imaging.

The use of MR imaging has been proposed for the assessment of the hepatic iron overload in transfusion-dependent thalassemic patients treated with desferrioxamine. The aim of the study was to correlate serum ferritin levels and MR signal intensity of the liver parenchyma. Results on 12 patients showed that the ratios between the signal intensity of liver parenchyma and muscle and fat are promising parameters for predicting iron overload.