<< Back to Iron and Heme Metabolism

Room-Temperature Susceptometry for Hepatic Iron

We evaluated room-temperature magnetic susceptometry as a non-invasive method to quantify hepatic iron without superconducting SQUID technology.

The project was performed in Heidelberg in collaboration with William Avrin, who developed the room-temperature susceptometer. The clinical program tested whether magnetic susceptibility measurements could provide a sensitive and practical estimate of liver iron concentration across patients with chronic liver disease.

The study demonstrated that room-temperature susceptometry can detect hepatocellular iron non-invasively and showed good agreement with independent measures of hepatic iron. The approach addressed a major limitation of conventional susceptometry: the need for expensive superconducting equipment and liquid-helium cooling.

Susceptometry team in Heidelberg. From left: Hanna Raisi, William Avrin, Johannes Mueller and Sebastian Mueller.

Selected publications

• Sensitive and non-invasive assessment of hepatocellular iron using a novel room-temperature susceptometer. Mueller J et al. J Hepatol. 2017;67(3):535–542.
• Noninvasive liver-iron measurements with a room-temperature susceptometer. Avrin WF, Kumar S. Physiol Meas. 2007;28(4):349–361.