Non-invasive assessment of hepatic iron in chronic liver disease: First experience with a novel room-temperature susceptometer

Objectives: Hepatic iron not only accumulates in hemochromatosis but various chronic liver diseases such as HCV and ALD where it has been identified as an important prognostic and cancerogenic factor. Unfortunately, the noninvasive assessment of hepatic iron is still insufficiently resolved due to technical difficulties and expenses (MRI, SQUID). We here report first results on a prospective monocenter study using a newly developed room temperature susceptometer (RTS). Methods: 170 patients without or with signs of iron overload were prospectively enrolled. Magnetic volume susceptibility (Chi) was determined usi…