Discussion Forums > Thalassemia Major
FerriScan : Non-invasive measurement of liver iron concentration
sahil:
Thank you very much Sharmin and Umair for the quick replies.
I got my T2* of heart and liver done this August or September (don't remember), so should Ferriscan also be on the cards for me?
Umair, I got my T2* from Jhankharia's Imaging only. But did't know that they do FerriScan as well.
\peace/
Sharmin:
Sahil,
Yes, you should probably do the ferriscan as well because iron is always stored in the liver before it reaches the heart. You should have your LIC levels measured with the ferriscan.
It is great to know that this technology is available to you in India.
Sharmin
Andy Battaglia:
Hi Sahil,
Nice to see you again. T2* is a scan that measures iron in the heart. Ferriscan uses MRI imaging in a software program that created a 3-D image of the liver and shows exactly where and how big iron deposits are in the liver. Since in most majors, iron will accumulate in the liver before the heart, Ferriscan is a very useful tool for identifying trouble even before the heart is affected. It is also harmless to the patient, whereas liver biopsy does have a small risk of complications (small is a word that has no meaning to me here, because a friend of mine died after a liver biopsy released an embolism into his bloodstream and it killed him the next day). Ferriscan is available in Mumbai and we have been trying to get it into Delhi but the process has stalled and doctors haven't returned emails. I believe Vikas Kapoor was involved in this, so if you are in contact with him (I saw him only briefly in Singapore)please ask him if any progress has been made.
Both Ferriscan and T2* are valuable diagnostic tools and if possible, both should be utilized. Because of the strange chelation patterns that patients sometimes have, iron can build in the heart and not the liver (I'll talk more about this later), so you can't be certain about the other unless both are tested.
Ferriscan, Mumbai
India Dr Jankharia's Imaging Centre Bhaveshwar Vihar 383, S.V.P. Road Mumbai +91 22 66173333
Andy Battaglia:
Sharmin,
One quick note. I had mentioned that ejection fraction is not a very accurate test and this was also verified at Singapore.
Andy Battaglia:
Sahil,
If you already had a liver scan, I don't think you would need to do Ferriscan so soon. It may be something to check out in the future. By the way, how were your scan results?
I also had the pleasure of meeting Sylvia Goh at the conference and also was able to talk to Tim St. Pierre, the founder of Ferriscan, for over an hour.
The problem with the Squid test is that there are only a few of these machines in the world, so T2* and Ferriscan are much more available to patients.
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