Total antioxidant capacity in Mediterranean β-thalassemic patients.

Background: Beta thalassemia major (BT) is an inherited blood disorder caused by reduced or absent synthesis of the hemoglobin beta chains, associated with profound anemia, jaundice, splenomegaly, expanded bone marrow volume, siderosis and cardiomegaly. Because of repeated blood transfusions, BT patients are subjected to peroxidative tissue injury due to secondary iron overload.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyze: 1) the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) value in BT patients (study group) and their healthy controls (control group) from Greece (Central Macedonia) and Italy (Sardinia); correlations between 2) the TAC and ferritin levels of BT patients, and 3) the TAC and ferritin values in BT patients with different chelation therapies.

Accurate estimate of pancreatic T2* values: how to deal with fat infiltration.

Purpose: We examined different approaches aimed to deal with the signal fluctuation of pancreatic T2* values due to fat infiltration in order to obtain accurate estimates of iron overload.

Methods: Pancreatic T2* values were assessed in 20 patients (13 females, 37.24 ± 9.

Fast generation of T2* maps in the entire range of clinical interest: application to thalassemia major patients.

T2* maps obtained by the processing of multiecho MR sequences can be useful in several clinical applications. T2* map generation procedures should join a processing time compatible with on-line image analysis with a good precision in the entire T2* range of clinical interest. Fast generation of T2* maps can be achieved by the estimation of the T2* values by the weighted linear fitting of the logarithm of the signal (WLSL) method.