Altered cortical susceptibility heterogeneity in patients with beta-thalassemia

Beta-thalassemia (β-TM) is an inherited blood disorder that causes the body to make less hemoglobin. In this study, we examined altered cortical susceptibility heterogeneity in patients with β-TM vs. healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For the altered regions of susceptibility heterogeneities in the β-TM group, an increase was only found in the left hippocampus, while decreased heterogeneities were observed for all other regions located in the frontal and temporal lobes. Thus, we concluded that susceptibility heterogeneities could reveal the β-TM-affecting regions.