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| NMR Biomed. 2004 Nov 3;17(7):433-445 [Epub ahead of print] Links
High-field magnetic resonance imaging of brain iron: birth of a biomarker?
Schenck JF, Zimmerman EA.
General Electric Global Research Center, Schenectady, New York, USA.
The brain has an unusually high concentration of iron, which is distributed in
an unusual pattern unlike that in any other organ. The physiological role of
this iron and the reasons for this pattern of distribution are not yet
understood. There is increasing evidence that several neurodegenerative
diseases are associated with altered brain iron metabolism. Understanding these
dysmetabolic conditions may provide important information for their diagnosis
and treatment. For many years the iron distribution in the human brain could be
studied effectively only under postmortem conditions. This situation was
changed dramatically by the finding that T(2)-weighted MR imaging at high field
strength (initially 1.5 T) appears to demonstrate the pattern of iron
distribution in normal brains and that this imaging technique can detect
changes in brain iron concentrations associated with disease states. Up to the
present time this imaging capability has been utilized in many research
applications but it has not yet been widely applied in the routine diagnosis
and management of neurodegenerative disorders. However, recent advances in the
basic science of brain iron metabolism, the clinical understanding of
neurodegenerative diseases and in MRI technology, particularly in the
availability of clinical scanners operating at the higher field strength of 3
T, suggest that iron-dependent MR imaging may soon provide biomarkers capable
of characterizing the presence and progression of important neurological
disorders. Such biomarkers may be of crucial assistance in the development and
utilization of effective new therapies for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
diseases, multiple sclerosis and other iron-related CNS disorders which are
difficult to diagnose and treat. Copyright (c) 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PMID: 15523705 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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