Nuclear resonance scattering measurement of human iron stores

Abstract

Hepatic iron stores were measured noninvasively in 31 patients (thalassemia, hemodialysis, hemosiderosis, refractory anemia) with suspected iron overload, employing a nuclear resonance scattering (NRS) technique. The thalassemia patients were undergoing desferrioxamine chelation therapy during the NRS measurements. The hemodialysis patients were measured before chelation therapy. Iron levels measured by NRS were in general agreement with those determined in liver biopsies by atomic absorption spectroscopy. In addition, NRS measurements from the thorax of some of these patients suggest that this method may also prove useful for clinical assessment of cardiac iron.