Non-invasive liver iron concentration measurement by MRI: comparison of two validated protocols

In the non-invasive determination of the liver iron concentration several validated MRI methods are available, two of which are compared in this study. Twenty-eight patients were examined by MRI and evaluated by the methods of Kreeftenberg et al. [Kreeftenberg Jr HG, Mooyaart EL, Huizenga JR, Sluiter WJ, Kreeftenberg Sr HG. Quantification of liver iron concentration with magnetic resonance imaging by combining T1-, T2-weighted spin echo sequences and a gradient echo sequence. Neth J Med 2000;56:133-7] and Gandon et al. [Gandon Y, Olivie D, Guyader D, et al. Non-invasive assessment of hepatic iron stores by MRI. Lancet 2004;363:357-62]. It is concluded that the latter shows a better inter- and intra-observer correlation and is more accurate because of the automated preselection of one of five sequences most sensitive in the estimated liver iron concentration range. In the Kreeftenberg method combining the results of three suboptimal sequences, leads to underestimation of the liver iron concentration.