Myocardial iron load measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate cardiac systolic function in thalassemia

The assessment of cardiac iron overload in thalassemia major has been considered as an important predictive factor of heart injury. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived relaxation time parameter (T2*) varies inversely with iron level, and elevated myocardial iron levels by T2* are associated with depressed left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF). We compared echocardiographic (ECHO) indices of systolic function to myocardial T2* in these patients. A cross-sectional database review identified 200 consecutive patients with thalassemia who underwent both ECHO and MRI T2* assessment. There was a negative correlation between T2* measurement and ECHO EF (r = -0.389, P < 0.001). Using a cutoff value of 50% for differentiating LV normal and abnormal function by ECHO, T2* MRI had a sensitivity of 57.1%, a specificity of 89.9%, and an accuracy of 86.5% for predicting LV dysfunction. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that cardiac iron measurement had an acceptable value for discriminating normal and abnormal LV function (area under the curve = 0.769, 95% confidence interval: 0.653-0.885). With respect to the relationship between serum ferritin level and cardiac iron value, the level of serum ferritin was positively correlated with the level of cardiac iron load (r = 0.257, P < 0.001). Myocardial iron load assessed by MRI T2* is associated with deterioration of the LV function assessed by ECHO with a high specificity and moderate sensitivity. It is important to identify the thalassemic patients with a risk of iron overloaded cardiomyopathy and heart failure.