Supplementary Information
Calibration between R2 and M-HIC
Calibration was performed in a subgroup of 45 subjects, which consisted of patients with
haematological malignancies and chronic liver disease, and 10 normal controls. The R2 and M-HIC
were imaged with constant parameters within 0-8 day interval. The M-HIC imaging consisted of
five different breath-hold gradient echo sequences (TR/TE, 120/4, 9, 14, 21 ms; flip angle, 20° and
120/4; flip angle of 90), which were obtained with body coil. The mean signal intensities of regions
of interests were obtained from the same slice in each sequence. The M-HIC and corresponding
R2* were then quantified as previously introduced.13 The range of M-HIC was 5-320 μmol/g liver
dry weight, according to the prior standardization of scanner-specific differences and the upper limit
of normal liver iron concentration was 36 μmol/g.13,14
The empirical, nonlinear, analytical calibration equation had a strong dependence (R²=0.9290)
between R2 and M-HIC (Supplementary Figure 1). The equation of the fitting curve is similar to
that of St Pierre et al.11
y  a  bx d  cx 2 d ,
(S1)
where y is R2 (s-1), x is M-HIC (μmol/g), a (s-1), b ((μmol/g)-d s-1), c ((μmol/g)-2d s-1) and d are the
fitting constants. The best-fit values for the constants a, b, c, and d are: a = 31.14 s-1, b = -20.18 s-1
(μmol/g)-0.2542, c = 6.772 s-1 (μmol/g)-0.5084, and d = 0.2542.
Using this curve, R2-derived hepatic iron concentration M-HIC(R2) with constants A, B, C and D
can be calculated with the following equation:

M  HIC(R2)  A B(R2) C
,
D
where the values for the constants are: A = 1.490, B = 0.1477, C = 2.378, and D = 3.934.
(S2)
Supplementary Figure 1:
A calibration curve with a strong dependence between R2 and M-HIC provided the reference
standard M-HIC(R2).