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MR contrast of ferritin and hemosiderin in the brain: comparison among gradient-echo, conventional spin-echo and fast
Tabassum Laz Haque1, Yukio Miki, Mitsunori Kanagaki
1Department of Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Objective:
To compare the magnetic resonance image contrasts due to ferritin and hemosiderin in the brain tissue among different pulse sequences.
Materials And Methods:
Fourteen patients with cavernous hemangioma in the brain prospectively underwent MR imaging with T2*-weighted gradient-echo (GRE), T2-weighted conventional spin-echo (SE) and fast spin-echo (FSE) sequences. The relative contrast ratios (CRs) of the hypointense part of cavernous hemangioma, globus pallidus and putamen to the deep frontal white matter were measured on each pulse sequence and statistically analyzed using analysis of variance followed by paired t-test.
Results:
In the hypointense part of cavernous hemangioma, relative CRs were significantly lower on T2*-weighted GRE than on T2-weighted SE images (P=0.0001), and on T2-weighted SE than on T2-weighted FSE images (P=0.0001). In the globus pallidus, relative CRs were significantly lower on T2-weighted SE than on T2*-weighted GRE images (P=0.002), and on T2*-weighted GRE than on T2-weighted FSE images (P=0.0002). In the putamen, relative CRs were significantly lower on T2-weighted SE than on T2*-weighted GRE images (P=0.001), and there was no significant difference between CRs on T2-weighted FSE and T2*-weighted GRE images (P=0.90).
Conclusion:
Hemosiderin showed best image contrast on T2*-weighted GRE images but ferritin showed more prominent image contrast on T2-weighted SE than on T2*-weighted GRE images, which may help to determine an appropriate pulse sequence in neurological diseases associated with excessive ferritin accumulation.
Insights
Hemosiderin exhibits optimal contrast on T2*-weighted gradient-echo (GRE) MRI sequences, while ferritin shows better contrast on T2-weighted spin-echo (SE) sequences. This finding aids in selecting MRI pulse sequences for neurological diseases.
Area of Science:
- Neuroradiology
- Biomedical Imaging
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Iron deposition in the brain, primarily as ferritin and hemosiderin, is implicated in various neurological disorders.
- Differentiating between ferritin and hemosiderin on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial for diagnosis and understanding disease progression.
- Different MRI pulse sequences are known to be sensitive to varying tissue properties, affecting image contrast.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effectiveness of different MRI pulse sequences in visualizing brain tissue contrasts caused by ferritin and hemosiderin.
- To determine the optimal pulse sequence for detecting hemosiderin versus ferritin in brain lesions, specifically cavernous hemangiomas.
Main Methods:
- Prospective MRI scans were performed on 14 patients with brain cavernous hemangiomas using T2*-weighted gradient-echo (GRE), T2-weighted conventional spin-echo (SE), and fast spin-echo (FSE) sequences.
- Relative contrast ratios (CRs) were measured for the hypointense areas of cavernous hemangioma, globus pallidus, and putamen against deep frontal white matter.
- Statistical analysis, including ANOVA and paired t-tests, was employed to compare CRs across different pulse sequences.
Main Results:
- Hemosiderin in cavernous hemangioma showed significantly lower CRs on T2*-weighted GRE compared to T2-weighted SE and FSE sequences.
- Globus pallidus and putamen exhibited significantly lower CRs on T2-weighted SE compared to T2*-weighted GRE sequences.
- T2*-weighted GRE sequences provided the best contrast for hemosiderin, while T2-weighted SE sequences offered more prominent contrast for ferritin.
Conclusions:
- Hemosiderin demonstrates superior image contrast on T2*-weighted GRE sequences.
- Ferritin displays more prominent image contrast on T2-weighted SE sequences compared to T2*-weighted GRE sequences.
- The choice of MRI pulse sequence is critical and should be tailored to the suspected iron deposition (ferritin or hemosiderin) in neurological diseases.
