Myocardial Iron overload quantification in a developing country: Tunisian first experience with financial challenges

Background Iron chelation treatment has increased life expectancy of patients with beta thalassemia major. Accurate assessement of heart iron overload is essential for managing chelation therapy. Nowadays, MRI-based iron overload quantification became the gold standard technique. However it remains too expensive in countries that cannot afford such technology, which ironically are endemic countries of thalassemia. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of measuring heart iron concentration by the means of MRI using a “low cost” technique in a developing country like ours with few financial resourses.