Discussion Forums > Thalassemia Major

FerriScan : Non-invasive measurement of liver iron concentration

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Andy Battaglia:
Sharmin,

Wasn't his liver already checked by MRI?

Honestly. the main reason now for doing a Ferriscan would be to establish a current baseline, which can be used to compare to future measures. His intensive chelation should be cleaning his liver out well, so now the heart tests are necessary to see if any change in chelation strategy should or can be considered. Regular T2* tests can also assess the affect of Exjade.

Sharmin:
Hi Andy,

His LIC was measured using the SQUID and T2* was used to look at his heart.  They did not find any elevated iron levels in his heart - which was a great relief.  As per the study, they are going to repeat all of these tests this winter (probably February) to evaluate how well the chelation is working.  I spoke with the Ferriscan people last spring, and I am wondering if it may be a good idea to get a baseline measure. 

His Exjade levels were increased this week and this is the fifth week since his last transfusion.  His iron levels may drop quite quickly now.  He is on 625mg of exjade and 12hrs/day 5 days a week desferal.  He gets about 534cc of blood every 4 to 5 weeks. 
One concern I have is that between now and February, his iron levels could drop quite drastically (which is great) but I wonder if his chelation should be reduced sooner than February. 

sahil:
First of all sorry for asking such a foolish question  :smiley

How are the FerriScan reports like? Are they in ng/ml like the Serum Ferritin report?


\peace/

Sylvia:
Hello everyone

I'm back from Singapore and the conference was great. It was a great pleasure to meet with many of you! :smiley

From the conference, we learnt that it is very important to manage your liver iron, especially for younger children where iron will start building in the liver before the heart. Dr Farrukh Shah from the UK gave a wonderful talk on FerriScan and how she uses FerriScan in her routine care for thalassemic patients.

Andy has done a great job here explaining how FerriScan works to all of you. To answer some of your questions and to provide more information on how FerriScan is used in the clinical setting:

1) FerriScan uses the R2 imaging technique not R2*. All these different R2, T2*, R2* are methods of MRI image (data) acquisition. 
2) FerriScan provides a LIC in mg/g dry weight. For example: A thalassemic patient with a FerriScan LIC in the range of 3.2 - 7.0 mg/g dry weight is considered good. If the FerriScan LIC is more than 15.0 mg/g dry weight. it will be considered high risk for cardiac disease. Click on this link to view the sensitivity and specificity chart. http://content.resonancehealth.com/000345.pdf
3) FerriScan report is usually returned to the MRI center after the analysis is done. The MRI center then forward the results to the referring clinician who will then discuss the LIC results with the patients.

Sharmin, which part of Canada are you from? The doctors in Toronto have been submitting patients application for MOH funded FerriScan. So far, doctors from The Sick Children Hospital and Toronto General Hospital have successfully helped patients to obtain funded FerriScan.

Attached is also a sample of the FerriScan LIC report. You can see from the report that it has a diagram showing how iron is distributed in the liver as well as providing a LIC reading.

Let me know if you need any more clarification.

Cheers,

Sylvia

Andy Battaglia:
Hi Sylvia,

It was very nice meeting you at the conference and I really enjoyed my talk with Tim.

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