Gradient-echo magnetic resonance imaging study of pancreatic iron overload in young Egyptian beta-thalassemia major patients and effect of splenectomy

Table 3 Comparison between different groups of thalassemic patients and controls as regards signal intensity ratio of the liver and the pancreas.

SIR of Liver	N	Median	IQR	Χ² value^#	P value
I) Controls	20	15.389	14.158-18.074	42.828	<.001*
II) Non diabetic(NGT)	20	.833	.646-.861
III) abnormal glucose tolerance	20	.489	.159-.769
I/II) z value** = -5.423 P value < .001* I/III) z value** = -5.422 P value < .001* II/III) z value** = -2.379 P value = .017*
SIR of pancreas	N	Median	IQR	Χ ² value ^#	P value
I) Controls	20	18.036	16.165-20.183	38.384	<.001*
II) Non diabetic(NGT)	20	2.548	1.968-8.111
III) abnormal glucose tolerance	20	1.185	.833-1.519
I/II) z value** = -5.425 P value < .001* I/III) z value** = -5.423 P value < .001* II/III) z value** = -2.762 P value = .006*

#Kruskal Wallis test; **Mann Whitney test;*Significant; IQR, interquartile range (25-75th percentile range).

ISSN: 1758-5996