Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available

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Offline Ade

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Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available
« on: August 11, 2016, 08:44:17 PM »
Hi all, Please advice me on what to do. Cardiac MRI is not available in my country but liver MRI is. Can I simply do the latter? I mean if there is iron overload in the liver then wouldn't chelating to remove the excess iron there take care of the excess iron in heart if present? Kindly advice. Also these are the results of the iron panel tests. Transferrin = 33.5 mg/dl (range 20-50), Ferritin = 7.42 ng/ml (range 13-150), Serum Iron = 19.76 ug/dl (range 37-145), TIBC = 96 ug/dl (range 250-450), UIBC available tomorrow. X-ray, ECG, Echo all ok. Sigh! I'm begining to feel really drained by it all :-\

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Offline Ade

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Re: Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2016, 03:38:00 PM »
Hi everyone. Ok so now I have been told I cannot get a Liver MRI done too. The MRI scans offered here don't include Cardiac or Liver.  Looks like I will have to travel out of the country to get this done.  And all the while the clock is ticking. :sigh  In the meantime I guess I'll just go get my DNA analysis done for now. Any other advice pending when I get the MRI scans done would be appreciated :quiver

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Offline Andy Battaglia

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Re: Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2016, 02:53:01 AM »
There is no chance you have an iron load with those numbers. You may actually be a little low in iron.
Andy

All we are saying is give thals a chance.

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Offline Ade

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Re: Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2016, 03:14:57 PM »
Hi Andy, want to update you on the progress I have made so far. Started using the iron supplement in September. Used it for two months. Didn't use it in November. Did a full blood count yesterday and my hemoglobin has gone from 7.2 to 8.2. Some improvement but still low. I plan on doing an iron panel test to determine whether to continue the iron supplement or not. My MCV, MCH and MCHC counts did improve too. Also I did a urine tests. It showed protein in my blood as well as high levels of bilirubin. Is this a sign that I am undergoing hemolysis again? Is protein in urine liked to hemolysis and is it possible to be undergoing hemolysis whilsts your blood counts are getting better? I'm a little confused. Kindly advice. Lastly, my urine analysis showed numerous calcium oxalates. Should I stop taking my calcium supplements for now? BTW, I read somewhere that Calcium can cause calcification of the heart arteries. Could this be true? If so how can one prevent this from happening? Thanks
« Last Edit: December 11, 2016, 04:27:06 AM by Ade »

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Offline Andy Battaglia

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Re: Can I do liver MRI? Cardiac MRI not available
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2016, 12:30:54 AM »
The fact that the MCV rose along with the Hb does show that iron is working. If the anemia was only due to thal minor, the MCV would never change much. I would suggest continuing iron until your Hb levels off and no more improvement is seen.
Thal minors will almost always have high levels of bilirubin due to the constant destruction of defective red blood cells. This is also the most likely reason for protein being found in the urinalysis. Calcium oxalates in urine can be caused by many things, even as simple as eating a food high in vitamin C or taking a supplement containing vitamin C. It's not a concern and does not necessarily mean that your calcium levels are high. There is no proven evidence that dietary calcium is related to calcification of the arteries.
Andy

All we are saying is give thals a chance.

 

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