• Anna Ramazzotti, Alessia Pepe, Vincenzo Positano, Giuseppe Rossi, Daniele De Marchi, Maria Gabriella Brizi, Antongiulio Luciani, Massimo Midiri, Giuseppina Sallustio, Gianluca Valeri, Vincenzo Caruso, Michele Centra, Paolo Cianciulli, Vincenzo De Sanctis, Aurelio Maggio, and Massimo Lombardi.
• MRI Laboratory, G Monasterio Foundation and Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009 Jul 1; 30 (1): 62-8.

PurposeTo assess the transferability of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) multislice multiecho T2(*) technique for global and segmental measurement of iron overload in thalassemia patients.Materials And MethodsMultiecho T2(*) sequences were installed on six MRI scanners. Five healthy subjects (n = 30) were scanned at each site; five thalassemia major (TM) patients were scanned at the reference site and were rescanned locally (n = 25) within 1 month. T2(*) images were analyzed using previously validated software.ResultsT2(*) values of healthy subjects showed intersite homogeneity. On TM patients, for global heart T2(*) values the correlation coefficient was 0.97, coefficients of variation (CoV(s)) ranged from 0.04-0.12, and intraclass coefficients (ICC(s)) ranged from 0.94-0.99. The mean CoV and ICC for segmental T2(*) distribution were 0.198 and 88, respectively.ConclusionThe multislice multiecho T2(*) technique is transferable among scanners with good reproducibility.(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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