{"id":180,"date":"2019-09-13T17:58:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T17:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ferriscan.com\/?page_id=180"},"modified":"2020-10-14T10:11:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T10:11:14","slug":"ferriscan-for-patients","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ferriscan.com\/ferriscan-for-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"FerriScan for Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

FerriScan for Patients<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Please click on the question(s) below to expand the answer for each. If your question is not listed below, please contact us directly at info@resonancehealth.com for further information.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is \u201cIron Overload\u201d?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

When the body absorbs more iron than is required in normal daily usage, it has no natural mechanism to remove the excess iron. This may happen as a result of the body absorbing too much iron through the diet or where additional iron is introduced through regular blood transfusions in the treatment of disease. Surplus iron accumulates in the organs and tissues of the body, particularly the liver, potentially leading to liver fibrosis, liver cancer and death. Most cases of iron overload are the result of genetic conditions such as Thalassaemia, Sickle Cell Disease or Hereditary Haemochromatosis.<\/h2><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is liver fibrosis?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Liver fibrosis is scarring of the liver. Like any other scars, this indicates that some damage has occurred. If the cause of the fibrosis is identified and early treatment provided, it is often possible for the damage to be reversed, otherwise further liver complications may ultimately occur.<\/h2><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow will my doctor assess whether I have iron overload, and why is FerriScan better than alternative tests?\u200b<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

If your doctor suspects that you have iron overload, an initial serum ferritin test will be ordered by your doctor.\u00a0 The results of this will indicate whether you have high levels of serum ferritin in your body. However, serum ferritin is only a surrogate marker for total body iron stores and can be affected by other conditions such as alcohol consumption, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, liver disease, malignancy, infection or inflammation. In addition serum ferritin saturates at higher liver iron concentrations, meaning that it is not useful to quantify iron overload. Therefore, it cannot be used alone for the diagnosis and clinical management of iron overload.<\/h2>

So what are the alternatives when a serum ferritin test result is high? Prior to FerriScan and FerriSmart, which are R2-MRI based techniques for the quantification of liver iron concentration, the gold standard (or accepted \u2018best practice\u2019) method for estimating the extent of iron loading in the liver was through liver needle biopsy, which is an invasive and unpleasant surgical procedure. The need for anesthesia, patient monitoring and recovery time also makes it expensive. In addition, when a biopsy is taken, the sample size is only a very small fraction (1\/5000) of the liver, which is subject to large sampling error for assessing liver iron levels, especially when the liver iron distribution is varied throughout the liver.<\/p>

There are also several MRI-based methodologies known as T2* or Signal Intensity Ratio (SIR) that may be used to provide a T2* value and attempt to equate this to a liver iron concentration.\u00a0 There is a fundamental limitation of the T2* methods that causes them to fail at high liver iron concentrations. This, combined with the variability in results between different scanners and MRI centres, reduces significantly the reliability of these methods.\u00a0 Additionally, these tests fail to offer the standardization and quality control systems offered by the FDA-cleared MRI-based products FerriScan and FerriSmart.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is an MRI? <\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a technology that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. In many cases, MRI gives different information about structures in the body than can be seen with an X-ray, ultrasound, or computed tomography (CT) scan.\u200b<\/h2><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy do I need an MRI scan to measure my liver iron concentration?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

An MRI scan allows detailed information to be gathered about the body\u2019s organs without the need for invasive surgical procedures such as liver biopsy. The FerriScan images show an entire cross-section of the liver and allow a more accurate evaluation of the liver as compared to liver biopsy.<\/h2><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is FerriScan?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

FerriScan is an MRI-based, non-invasive test for the measurement of Liver iron Concentration (LIC) in patients who may be suffering from liver iron overload. \u00a0FerriScan, which was originally calibrated against liver biopsy, is now considered the gold-standard in the measurement of LIC, has been established in over 450 prestigious hospital centres across the globe, and is included in numerous international clinical guidelines.\u00a0\u00a0 It has been used by both leading clinicians and pharmaceutical companies in trials of new medications for over 15 years.<\/h2><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is FerriSmart?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

FerriSmart is a stand-alone software application that automatically analyses MRI (DICOM) images that are uploaded via the FerriSmart web portal. These images, acquirable on most makes and models of 1.5 Tesla MRI machines, are obtained through a unique and standardized scanning sequence to ensure results are accurate, reliable, and reproducible over time and between hospitals and the various makes and models of MRI scanners. Upon the automated analysis, a Liver Iron Concentration Report is delivered back to the MRI Centre (or Hospital) on-screen instantaneously<\/h2>

Due to the quality-controlled, standardized nature of the test, a patient may have a FerriSmart at any FerriSmart-verified MRI centre, anywhere in the world, and receive accurate, reliable results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow does FerriScan work?<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

FerriScan is an image analysis service that can be established on most makes and models of 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanners at MRI centres around the world. These centres are given a set of instructions (the FerriScan protocol) to adjust their scanner\u2019s settings so that it can collect FerriScan images correctly. Abdominal (mid-section) images are captured by the scanner and uploaded to a secure server at Resonance Health\u2019s central Service Centre. This data is processed by trained analysts using the patented FerriScan software under a quality-controlled system. A Liver Iron Concentration (LIC) Report is delivered back to the MRI Centre within two business days. It includes:<\/h2>