Cerebral blood flow regulates iron overload in the cerebral nuclei of hemodialysis patients with anemia

Hemodialysis patients exhibit anemia-related cerebral hyperperfusion and iron deposition (ID). However, the mechanisms underlying the pathology of cerebral ID are not clear. We investigated the role of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the pathophysiology of cerebral ID in hemodialysis patients with anemia. This study recruited 33 hemodialysis patients with anemia and thirty-three healthy controls (HCs). All the subjects underwent quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and arterial spin labeling (ASL) to measure ID and CBF in the cerebral nuclei. Furthermore, we evaluated lacunar infarction (LI), cerebral microbleeds, and total white matter hyperintensity volume (TWMHV). Hemodialysis patients with anemia showed significantly higher ID and CBF in some nuclei compared to the HCs after adjusting for age, sex, and total intracranial volume (TIV) [ P < 0.05, false discovery rate (FDR) corrected]. CBF showed a positive correlation with ID in both patients and HCs after adjustments for age, gender, and TIV ( P < 0.05, FDR corrected). Serum phosphorus, calcium, TWMHV, hypertension, and dialysis duration were independently associated with ID ( P < 0.05). Hemoglobin, serum phosphorus, and LI were independently associated with CBF ( P < 0.05). Mediation analysis demonstrated that CBF mediated the effects between hemoglobin and ID. Our study demonstrated that CBF mediated aberrant cerebral ID in hemodialysis patients with anemia.