Effects of Dietary Supplements on Iron-Loading Susceptibility Artefacts in Pelvic MRI

We present a case of an 80-year-old male who attended an MRI scan for his prostate cancer radiotherapy planning. His safety screening did not identify any contraindications to our department's MRI safety policy; however, his MRI images displayed significant susceptibility artefacts in the sigmoid colon and rectum and were not clinically acceptable. Further history revealed he had begun regularly taking curcumin supplements at the time of his prostate cancer diagnosis. The patient was instructed to cease taking the curcumin supplements and a repeat MRI appointment was scheduled for one week later. After discontinuing curcumin, repeat imaging was artefact-free and suitable for radiotherapy planning. The chelating properties of curcumin could potentially lead to an accumulation of iron in the bowel, causing MRI susceptibility artefacts in pelvic scans and presenting a possible negative impact on the clinical utility of the images. It may be helpful to screen regular medications including health supplements with known chelation properties where MRI scan quality may be affected.