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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Iron Overload Assessment by MRI in Patients with Hemoglobinopathies: The E-MIOT
Antonella Meloni1,2, Laura Pistoia1, Amalia Lupi3
1Department of Radiology, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
Background:
The E-MIOT (Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia) project is an Italian Network assuring high-quality quantification of tissue iron overload by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on E-MIOT services.
Methods:
The activity of the E-MIOT Network MRI centers in the year 2020 was compared with that of 2019. A survey evaluated whether the availability of MRI slots for patients with hemoglobinopathies was reduced and why.
Results:
The total number of MRI scans was 656 in 2019 and 350 in 2020, with an overall decline of 46.4% (first MRI: 71.7%, follow-up MRI: 36.9%), a marked decline (86.9%) in the period March-June 2020, and a reduction in the gap between the two years in the period July-September. A new drop (41.4%) was recorded in the period October-December for two centers, due to the general reduction in the total amount of MRIs/day for sanitization procedures. In some centers, patients refused MRI scans for fear of getting COVID. Drops in the MRI services >80% were found for patients coming from a region without an active MRI site.
Conclusions:
The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong negative impact on MRI multi-organ iron quantification, with a worsening in the management of patients with hemoglobinopathies.
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