Radiomics as an Alternative to T2* value in Cardiac Iron Overload Staging: A Pilot Study Using Open Access Data

Abstract

Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder that leads to severe anemia, requiring regular blood transfusions as a primary treatment.[1-3] However, repeated transfusions result in cardiac iron overload (CIO), a critical complication causing cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, and heart failure, which is a leading cause of mortality in thalassemia major. Early detection of CIO is crucial but remains challenging due to the limitations of existing diagnostic methods like serum ferritin measurement, endomyocardial biopsy, and T2*-weighted MRI, which face issues of invasiveness, cost and technical constraints. This study addresses these gaps by proposing a radiomics-based, noninvasive approach for CIO detection and staging, using high-dimensional quantitative imaging features and machine learning algorithms for accurate and early diagnosis, enabling better clinical outcomes.