Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry with serum ferritin predicts liver iron concentration and changes in concentration better than ferritin alone

John A. Shepherd*, Bo Fan, Ying Lu, Lorena Marquez, Khaled Salama, Jimmy Hwang, Ellen B. Fung

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Accurate assessment of liver iron concentration (LIC) is critical for optimal monitoring of iron toxicity in multitransfused patients. Serum ferritin is the most widely used although its association to LIC is only modest. We studied if a liver-specific measure using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) systems could improve LIC estimates over ferritin alone in Thalassemia (Thal) patients. Thirty-seven patients with Thal (19.2±9.0yr, 20 male) were studied and 10 had multiple visits. Height, weight, ferritin, whole-body DXA, and hepatic superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) were measured within 5wk. DXA hepatic density was measured using right rib, whole liver, and multiple subliver regions. The best agreement to SQUID LIC was found using a combination of ferritin, weight, DXA subliver region 3 bone mineral content (BMC), and right rib BMC. DXA with ferritin improved the ferritin alone correlation from R2=0.35 to R2=0.62. Serial LIC changes using DXA were associated with serial SQUID changes (r=0.73, p=0.02). Changes in ferritin alone were not significant (p=0.06). We conclude that the addition of whole-body DXA measures and body weight substantially increased the accuracy of LIC and change in LIC estimates over the use of ferritin alone and could be useful when magnetic resonance imaging or SQUID is not available.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)399-406
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Clinical Densitometry
Volume13
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2010

Keywords

  • Body composition
  • LIC
  • SQUID
  • Thalassemia
  • Transfusion
  • Whole-body DXA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry with serum ferritin predicts liver iron concentration and changes in concentration better than ferritin alone'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this