Streamlining liver iron assessment: accuracy and limitations of 3D qDixon MRI for liver iron overload quantification

IF 3.2 3区医学 Q1 RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING

European Journal of Radiology Pub Date : 2025-06-12 DOI:10.1016/j.ejrad.2025.112237

Fei Peng , Chaotian Luo , Xiaojing Ning , Linlin Liang , Chaojie Huang , Mingrui Yang , Cheng Tang , Huiting Zhang , Peng Peng

{"title":"Streamlining liver iron assessment: accuracy and limitations of 3D qDixon MRI for liver iron overload quantification","authors":"Fei Peng , Chaotian Luo , Xiaojing Ning , Linlin Liang , Chaojie Huang , Mingrui Yang , Cheng Tang , Huiting Zhang , Peng Peng","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrad.2025.112237","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To prospectively evaluate the accuracy and limitations of the 1.5 T 3D-Dixon sequence (qDixon) in quantifying liver iron concentration (LIC), using FerriScan technology-determined LIC and the 1.5 T multi-echo GRE sequence (ME-GRE) as reference standards.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A total of 161 chronic transfusion-dependent patients, 83 men and 43 women with a mean age of 21.04 years, were scanned using ME-GRE and qDixon sequences; among them, 67 were scanned using FerriScan technology. R2* values (ME-GRE-R2* and qDixon-R2*) and LIC were obtained for both sequences. Comparative analysis was conducted using concordance correlation coefficients (CCC), Bland-Altman plots, and linear regression. A piecewise regression model was constructed to determine the upper limit for quantifying LIC using the qDixon.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The qDixon-LIC and ME-GRE-LIC showed mean differences of 0.22, 0.01, −0.27, and 6.8 mg/g dry weight (dw) in normal, mild, moderate, and severe liver iron overload with corresponding CCC values of 0.986, 0.982, 0.956, and 0.216, respectively. The piecewise regression model established a 28.47 mg/g dw threshold for accurate liver iron quantification using qDixon, beyond which qDixon-R2* reached 892.86 s<sup>−1</sup>. Below this threshold, qDixon demonstrated a strong linear correlation with FerriScan in estimating LIC (r = 0.82, p < 0.001), with a negligible mean difference of 1.68 mg/g dw and a CCC of 0.984.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The 1.5 T qDixon sequence can be used to quantitatively assess LIC within a specific range (LIC < 28.47 mg/g dw), simplifying clinical workflow procedures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12063,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Radiology","volume":"190 ","pages":"Article 112237"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Radiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0720048X25003237","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective

To prospectively evaluate the accuracy and limitations of the 1.5 T 3D-Dixon sequence (qDixon) in quantifying liver iron concentration (LIC), using FerriScan technology-determined LIC and the 1.5 T multi-echo GRE sequence (ME-GRE) as reference standards.

Methods

A total of 161 chronic transfusion-dependent patients, 83 men and 43 women with a mean age of 21.04 years, were scanned using ME-GRE and qDixon sequences; among them, 67 were scanned using FerriScan technology. R2* values (ME-GRE-R2* and qDixon-R2*) and LIC were obtained for both sequences. Comparative analysis was conducted using concordance correlation coefficients (CCC), Bland-Altman plots, and linear regression. A piecewise regression model was constructed to determine the upper limit for quantifying LIC using the qDixon.

Results

The qDixon-LIC and ME-GRE-LIC showed mean differences of 0.22, 0.01, −0.27, and 6.8 mg/g dry weight (dw) in normal, mild, moderate, and severe liver iron overload with corresponding CCC values of 0.986, 0.982, 0.956, and 0.216, respectively. The piecewise regression model established a 28.47 mg/g dw threshold for accurate liver iron quantification using qDixon, beyond which qDixon-R2* reached 892.86 s⁻¹. Below this threshold, qDixon demonstrated a strong linear correlation with FerriScan in estimating LIC (r = 0.82, p < 0.001), with a negligible mean difference of 1.68 mg/g dw and a CCC of 0.984.

Conclusion

The 1.5 T qDixon sequence can be used to quantitatively assess LIC within a specific range (LIC < 28.47 mg/g dw), simplifying clinical workflow procedures.

查看原文本刊更多论文

简化肝铁评估：3D qDixon MRI对肝铁过载定量的准确性和局限性

目的以FerriScan技术测定的肝铁浓度（LIC）和1.5 T多回声GRE序列（ME-GRE）作为参比标准，前瞻性评价1.5 T 3D-Dixon序列（qDixon）定量肝铁浓度（LIC）的准确性和局限性。方法对161例慢性输血依赖患者进行ME-GRE和qDixon序列扫描，其中男性83例，女性43例，平均年龄21.04岁；其中67例采用FerriScan技术进行扫描。得到两个序列的R2*值（me - gr -R2*和qDixon-R2*）和LIC。采用一致性相关系数（CCC）、Bland-Altman图和线性回归进行比较分析。构建了分段回归模型，以确定qDixon量化LIC的上限。结果qDixon-LIC和ME-GRE-LIC在正常、轻度、中度和重度肝铁超载时的平均差异分别为0.22、0.01、- 0.27和6.8 mg/g干重（dw），相应的CCC值分别为0.986、0.982、0.956和0.216。分段回归模型建立的qDixon准确定量肝铁的阈值为28.47 mg/g dw，超过该阈值后，qDixon- r2 *达到892.86 s−1。低于这个阈值，qDixon在估计LIC时与FerriScan显示出很强的线性相关性(r = 0.82, p <；0.001)，平均差异可忽略不计，为1.68 mg/g dw， CCC为0.984。结论1.5 T qDixon序列可用于定量评价特定范围内的LIC (LIC <；28.47 mg/g dw)，简化了临床工作流程。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

European Journal of Radiology 医学-核医学

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

3.00%

发文量

398

审稿时长

42 days

期刊介绍： European Journal of Radiology is an international journal which aims to communicate to its readers, state-of-the-art information on imaging developments in the form of high quality original research articles and timely reviews on current developments in the field. Its audience includes clinicians at all levels of training including radiology trainees, newly qualified imaging specialists and the experienced radiologist. Its aim is to inform efficient, appropriate and evidence-based imaging practice to the benefit of patients worldwide.