{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T15:29:09Z","timestamp":1789658949899,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Bayer","id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04hmn8g73","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02vpbac71","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007560","name":"Chiesi","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007560","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0511bn634","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Clin. Med.","JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objectives: This multicenter cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between age and organ-specific iron burden and characterized multi-organ iron phenotypes across different age groups in adults with non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 96 adults with NTDT enrolled in the multicenter Italian Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia network. Hepatic, pancreatic, and cardiac iron burden were assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results: The median age was 41.64 (36.08\u201353.92) years. Hepatic iron overload (IO) was present in 59.4% of patients and pancreatic IO in 29.2%, whereas no patient exhibited myocardial IO. Age was not associated with liver iron concentration (LIC) or cardiac R2*. A weak positive correlation was observed between age and pancreatic R2* (R = 0.215, p = 0.035), although this association was no longer significant after the exclusion of one extreme value. LIC and pancreatic R2* were not correlated. Across age groups (&lt;40, 40\u201359, and \u226560 years), the prevalence of pancreatic IO increased (22.9%, 28.6%, and 50.0%, respectively), whereas hepatic IO remained stable. Isolated hepatic IO was the most common phenotype overall, while combined hepatic and pancreatic IO was more frequent among patients aged \u226560 years. Conclusions: In adults with NTDT, age was not associated with greater hepatic or cardiac iron burden, whereas older patients showed a higher prevalence of pancreatic iron accumulation and combined hepatic\u2013pancreatic iron involvement. These findings highlight the organ-specific heterogeneity of iron distribution in NTDT and support the role of multi-organ MRI assessment beyond LIC evaluation, particularly in older patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15187028","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T15:54:19Z","timestamp":1789055659000},"page":"7028","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Age-Related Patterns of Organ-Specific Iron Distribution in Non-Transfusion-Dependent Thalassemia: A Multicenter MRI Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2284-8585","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonella","family":"Meloni","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Bioengineering Unit, Fondazione Monasterio, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5319-2769","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Pistoia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa Ricerca Clinica, Fondazione Monasterio, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7361-3308","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Ricchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Semplice Dipartimentale Malattie Rare del Globulo Rosso, Azienda Ospedaliera di Rilievo Nazionale \u201cA. Cardarelli\u201d, 80131 Napoli, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0434-0382","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Filomena","family":"Longo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa Talassemie ed Emoglobinopatie, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Arcispedale S. Anna, 44124 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1736-5570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lorenza","family":"Torti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Semplice Dipartimentale Day Hospital Talassemici, Ospedale \u201cSant\u2019Eugenio\u201d, 00143 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valerio","family":"Cecinati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Struttura Semplice di Microcitemia, Ospedale \u201cSS. Annunziata\u201d Azienda Sanitaria Locale Taranto, 74123 Taranto, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elisabetta","family":"Corigliano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ematologia Microcitemia, Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio\u2014Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale Crotone, 88900 Crotone, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michela","family":"Zerbini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Diagnostica per Immagini e Radiologia Interventistica, Ospedale del Delta, 44023 Lagosanto, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luigi","family":"Barbuto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa Radiologia Generale e di Pronto Soccorso, Azienda Ospedaliera di Rilievo Nazionale \u201cA. Cardarelli\u201d, 80131 Napoli, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Priscilla","family":"Fina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa Diagnostica per Immagini, Ospedale \u201cSandro Pertini\u201d, 00157 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stefania","family":"Renne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Struttura Complessa di Cardioradiologia-Unit\u00e0 di Terapia Intensiva Cardiologica, Presidio Ospedaliero \u201cGiovanni Paolo II\u201d, 88046 Lamezia Terme, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6955-9572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vincenzo","family":"Positano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bioengineering Unit, Fondazione Monasterio, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9042-340X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Barison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Fondazione Monasterio, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weatherall, D.J., and Clegg, J.B. 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