# MRI-based Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping of Hepatic Iron Overload

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2021 · $526,456

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
 The overall goal of this proposal is to develop and validate a novel technique for Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI)-based Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) of the abdomen, for non-invasive
assessment of liver iron deposition. In this work, we will develop and optimize advanced data acquisition and
image reconstruction methods to enable QSM of the abdomen. Further, we will determine the accuracy,
repeatability, and reproducibility of abdominal QSM for iron quantification in patients with liver iron overload.
 Excessive accumulation of iron in various organs, including the liver, which affects both adult and pediatric
populations, is toxic and requires treatment aimed at reducing body iron stores. Accurate assessment of liver
iron concentration is critical for the detection and staging of iron overload as well as for longitudinal monitoring
during treatment.
 MRI is a widely available technology and highly sensitive to the presence of iron. Unfortunately, current MRI
relaxometry methods are fundamentally limited by their poorly understood relationship to iron concentration,
which depends on the type of iron overload and also varies during treatment. In contrast, MRI is also
exquisitely sensitive to the magnetic susceptibility of tissue, which has a well-understood relationship to iron
concentration. Magnetic susceptibility distorts the main magnetic field in a well-characterized manner, and this
magnetic field distortion can be measured in-vivo. MRI-based QSM methods estimate the susceptibility of
tissues based on measuring the magnetic field distortion produced by the tissues themselves. MRI-
based QSM methods have been developed and validated in the brain. However, translation of QSM to the
abdomen has been unsuccessful. We have identified four major technical barriers for development of QSM
of the abdomen: 1) the presence of fat throughout the abdomen, which introduces additional phase shifts and
confounds the susceptibility estimates, 2) the potential for very high iron concentration in the liver (compared to
the brain), which results in rapid signal decay, 3) respiratory and other physiological motion, which introduces
artifacts in the acquired images and estimated susceptibility maps, and 4) recently identified spatial resolution
effects, which introduce bias in QSM when insufficient spatial resolution is acquired.
 By addressing these four barriers, we will develop a novel MRI-based QSM method for use in the
abdomen to quantify liver iron overload. Preliminary validation studies are very promising and have shown
excellent promise for the quantification of LIC in patients. In this proposal, we aim to [1] complete
development of MRI-based abdominal QSM for measurement of LIC, [2] determine the repeatability and
reproducibility of QSM at 1.5T and 3T in patients with liver iron overload, [3] determine the accuracy of
abdominal QSM at 1.5T and 3T in patients with liver iron overload using superconducting quantu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201584
- **Project number:** 5R01DK117354-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Diego Hernando
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $526,456
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201584

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201584, MRI-based Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping of Hepatic Iron Overload (5R01DK117354-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201584. Licensed CC0.

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