Key result
Cardiac MRI enables noninvasive quantification for early recognition of iron overload cardiomyopathy.
Why the study?
The prevalence of iron overload cardiomyopathy is increasing and current diagnostic and treatment methods are suboptimal, necessitating improved clinical guidelines.
This review highlights the need for early detection of iron overload cardiomyopathy using MRI and the development of clinical guidelines for its management.
Positions MRI as the preferred modality for early cardiac iron detection; leaves open the clinical efficacy of emerging.
The prevalence of iron overload cardiomyopathy (IOC) is increasing. The spectrum of symptoms of IOC is varied. Early in the disease process, patients may be asymptomatic, whereas severely overloaded patients can have terminal heart failure complaints that are refractory to treatment. It has been shown that early recognition and intervention may alter outcomes. Biochemical markers and tissue biopsy, which have traditionally been used to diagnose and guide therapy, are not sensitive enough to detect early cardiac iron deposition. Newer diagnostic modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging are noninvasive and can assess quantitative cardiac iron load. Phlebotomy and chelating drugs are suboptimal means of treating IOC; hence, the roles of gene therapy, hepcidin, and calcium channel blockers are being actively investigated. There is a need for the development of clinical guidelines in order to improve the management of this emerging complex disease.
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Gujja et al. (2010) conducted a review in Iron overload cardiomyopathy. Iron overload cardiomyopathy is an increasingly prevalent condition requiring early recognition, with magnetic resonance imaging offering noninvasive quantitative assessment of cardiac iron load.
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