To compare established MR methods based on Spin-Echo (SE) vs. Gradient-Echo (GRE) to quantify liver iron content (LIC).

198 patients (age: 2-88 years, mean age 28,9 y) suspected for liver iron overload were examined by MRI to evaluate the amount of LIC. All examinations were performed at 1.5 T. Gradient echo sequences were acquired according to the protocol published by Alustizia et al [1] (GRE1), a similar method proposed by Gandon et al [2] (GRE2) and a protocol designed to address higher LIC by Rose et al. [3] (GRE3). Furthermore, examinations with spin echo (SE) were performed with a protocol proposed by St....

GRE correlates reasonably with SE yielding a correlation coefficient of r=0.90. In the low LIC range, GRE1 performs alike with r=0.89. However, there is a mismatch between data: for patients closely above the upper limit of 180 µmol/g chosen for GRE1, GRE2 yields values of more than 270 µmol/g. Nearly all dots in Fig. 1 are located above the bisector line; therefore, GRE tends to overestimate LIC. The Bland-Altman-Plot (Fig. 3) shows, that predominantly, the difference of GRE minus the mean value is positive, which...

It can be stated that GRE and SE methods are suitable for a rough estimation of LIC and to differentiate between mild (up to 90 µmol/g) on the one hand and moderate or severe liver iron overload on the other for most patients which is of interest for disease management. In general, GRE tends to overestimate higher LIC values

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