Increased myocardial extracellular volume is associated with myocardial iron overload and heart failure in thalassemia major

Objectives Myocardial extracellular volume (ECV) by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a surrogate marker of diffuse fibrosis. We evaluated the association between ECV and demographics, CMR findings, and cardiac involvement in patients with thalassemia major (TM). Methods A total of 108 beta-TM patients (62 females, 40.16 +/- 8.83 years), consecutively enrolled in the Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia Network, and 16 healthy subjects (6 females, 37.12 +/- 16.13 years) underwent CMR. The protocol included assessment of T2*, native T1, and T2 values in all 16 myocardial segments for myocardial iron overload (MIO) quantification, cine images for left ventricular (LV) function quantification, post-contrast T1 mapping for ECV calculation, and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) technique for replacement myocardial fibrosis detection. Results Global ECV values were significantly higher in females than in males. Global ECV values were significantly higher in patients with significant MIO (global heart T2* < 20 ms) than in patients without significant MIO, and both groups exhibited higher global ECV values than healthy subjects. No association was detected between native T1 and ECV values, while patients with reduced global heart T2 values showed significantly higher global ECV values than patients with normal and increased global heart T2. Global ECV values were not correlated with LV function/size and were comparable between patients with and without LGE. Compared to patients without heart failure, patients with a history of heart failure (N = 10) showed significantly higher global heart ECV values. Conclusion In TM, increased myocardial ECV, potentially reflecting diffuse interstitial fibrosis, is associated with MIO and heart failure.