Dear Editor,

Recently, we have published a paper evaluating brain lesions in transfusion-dependent patients with β-thalassemia major (β-TM) in Southern Iran [1]. In this study, the frequency of silent cerebral ischemia (SCI) in patients with β-TM was determined as 37.5 %. Pazgal et al. [2] reported a higher frequency (66 %) for silent cerebral infarctions in transfusion-dependent patients with β-TM. Previously, we reported a frequency of 15.8 % for SCI in patients with β-thalassemia intermedia [3]. In this letter, results of evaluation of a sex- and age-matched healthy control group in comparison with our recent paper are reported. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was done by the same technology using a standard four-channel head coil of a 1.5 T MR unit (Siemens, Avanto, Germany) with the same previous detail [4]. Forty normal healthy subjects at an age range of 12–45 years were randomly selected, and informed consent was taken before the study. All MRI results in the control group were normal without detecting any brain lesion. This adds further support to the positive findings in patients with beta-thalassemia, and the findings are real and not an artifact.