Magnetic resonance imaging of reticulo-endothelial system in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

✍ Scribed by Morio, S.; Oh, H.; Endo, N.; Kawano, E.; Nakamura, H.; Asai, T.; Saito, Y.; Uchida, Y.; Ikehira, H.; Yoshida, K.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 171 KB
• Volume: 56
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0361-8609
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8652(199709)56:1<52::aid-ajh11>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is characterized by accelerated platelet destruction in the reticulo-endothelial system (RES). We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to estimate the degree of activated RES. MRI was performed with a Gyroscan S-15 (1.5 tesla) in 7 healthy volunteers and 22 patients with ITP. The 22 patients included 19 who were at initial diagnosis or were nonresponders to the therapy (non-DX group), and 3 who were responders. For the non-DX group, the T1 relaxation time of the spleen was initially significantly shorter than for healthy volunteers, but normalized after responding to the therapy. The initially shorter T1 values of the spleen for ITP patients correlated with a low platelet count (P < 0.05). This condition may indicate foam cells or fatty components due to platelet destruction. There was no significant relationship between the sequestration in 111 In-scan and T1 values of the liver or spleen. However, MRI is a noninvasive method, and it may be a clinically useful tool in the evaluation of RES in patients with ITP. Am.