Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 21;14(1):54-60.
doi: 10.3390/hematolrep14010009.

Neuroimaging Findings in Pediatric Patients with Thalassemia Major

Yılmaz Akbaş  1 , Sultan Aydın  2 , Gökçen Öz Tunçer  3 , Alper Köker  3 , Yasemin Çoban  3 , Gönül Oktay  4 , Hakan Yeral  5
Affiliations

Neuroimaging Findings in Pediatric Patients with Thalassemia Major

Yılmaz Akbaş et al. Hematol Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies about iron accumulation in children with thalassemia major are quite limited.

Aim: This study aimed to detect neurological findings with cranial MRIs in the pediatric patients with thalassemia major who did not develop any neurological complications.

Materials and methods: Pediatric patients with thalassemia major who followed in the Pediatric Hematology Unit between 1 July 2017 and 1 January 2019 were included in the study. The patients underwent cranial MRI scans.

Results: A total of 30 patients were included. The median age was 15 (range from 4-18) years old. We found that 7 patients had a splenectomy and 19 of the remaining 23 patients had splenomegaly. In addition, 13 of the patients had hepatomegaly, 10 had skeletal deformities, and 17 had growth retardation. The mean ferritin level was 3772.3 ± 2524.8. We detected various pathologies on cranial MRI images of 10 (33.3%) patients. In 3 of these patients, millimeter-sized ischemia-compatible lesions were found in the cerebral white matter, which did not fit any arterial area, and 5 patients had hyperintense lesions in the basal ganglia.

Conclusion: Our study is valuable since 1/3 of our pediatric patients with thalassemia major were detected with intracranial pathology.

Keywords: cranial MRI; hemoglobinopathy; neurological complications; thalassemia major.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a–c): Axial T2 (a) and Axial FLAIR (b) weighted images show multiple foci of hyperintensity that are related to asymptomatic brain ischemia. Axial FLAIR (c) image show widened epidural tissue.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rund D., Rachmilewitz E. Beta-thalassemia. N. Engl. J. Med. 2005;353:1135–1146. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra050436. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Weatherall D.J., Williams T.N., Allen S.J., O’Donnell A. The population genetics and dynamics of the thalassemias. Hematol. Oncol. Clin. N. Am. 2010;24:1021–1031. doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2010.08.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cao A., Galanello R. Beta-thalassemia. Genet. Med. 2010;12:61–76. doi: 10.1097/GIM.0b013e3181cd68ed. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Modell B., Darlison M. Global epidemiology of hemoglobin disorders and derived service indicators. Bull. World Health Organ. 2008;86:480–487. doi: 10.2471/BLT.06.036673. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. St Pierre T.G., Clark P.R., Chua-anusorn W., Fleming A.J., Jeffrey G.P., Olynyk J.K., Pootrakul P., Robins E., Lindeman R. Non-invasive measurement and imaging of liver iron concentrations using proton magnetic resonance. Blood. 2005;105:855–861. doi: 10.1182/blood-2004-01-0177. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources