MRI characterization of iron in soluble (ferritin-like) and particulate (hemosiderin-like) mixtures

Abstract

Accurate MRI characterization of tissue iron is needed to improve the diagnosis and management of patients with iron overload. The differences in solubility and spatial distribution between ferritin and hemosiderin are reflected in their distinct effects on MR signal decay. The aim of our study was to determine experimentally whether ferritin and hemosiderin iron can be differentiated by conducting MRI study of phantoms that contain soluble ferritin-like iron and particulate hemosiderin-like iron within cells. The phantom results of our study provide a compelling experimental validation of an earlier theoretical formulation and demonstrate the ability of this approach to discriminate between soluble and particulate iron, suggesting that this approach can be used to characterize the ferritin and hemosiderin iron separately in iron overloaded tissue such as liver and myocardium.