Acoustic radiation force impulse elastography for liver iron overload in β-thalassemia major: Is it going to cut it?

In this issue ofJCU, Kaban and Damar investigated the correlationand agreement between T2*-weighted MRI, ARFI measurementresults of liver and plasma ferritin levels in 40 pediatric patients withβ-thalassemia. The authors demonstrated a strong negative correla-tion between T2*-weighted MRI and ARFI measurement, a moderatenegative correlation between T2*-weighted MRI and plasma ferritinlevels, and a strong positive correlation between ARFI values andplasma ferritin levels. The results of this article differ from theresults of the study by Wurschli et al. possibly due to the different populations: while Kaban et al. investigated patients withβ-thalasse-mia, Wurschli et al. investigated patients who had undergone bonemarrow transplant, which are prone to suffer from additional causesof liver injury, including graft versus host disease, sinusoid obstructionsyndrome, and drug induced liver disease. Although the data stemming from this study are still insufficient to propose the use of ARFI as a diagnostic technique to monitor ironoverload in patients withβ-thalassemia, this article is a step towardfurther expanding the potential applications of elastography.