Magnetic resonance imaging T2

Objective: Patients with thalassemia major do require lifetime blood transfusions that eventually result in iron accumulation in different organs. We described the usefulness of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2 Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 39 patients with thalassemia major in one of the tertiary university hospitals for a 1-year period. Demographic data were collected from the patient's history. MRI T2 Results: A total of 32 (82.1%) patients had pancreatic iron overload including 2 patients (5.1%) with severe iron overload and 15 patients (38.5%) with moderate and mild iron overload, respectively. Nine patients (23.1%) had myocardial iron overload, which included 3 patients (7.7%) who had severe cardiac haemosiderosis. Notably, 37 patients (94.9%) had liver iron overload, which included 15 patients (38.5%) who had severe liver haemosiderosis. There was a moderate positive correlation between the relaxation time of the pancreas and heart haemosiderosis (r = 0.504, Conclusion: Pancreatic haemosiderosis precedes cardiac haemosiderosis, which establishes a basis for initiating earlier iron chelation therapy to patients with thalassemia major.