J Korean Soc Radiol.  2011 Jan;64(1):49-55. 10.3348/jksr.2011.64.1.49.

Quantitative Evaluation of the Hepatic Parenchymal Change in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease Using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI: Comparison with Normal Liver

• Lee WJ
• Cha SH
• Kim MY
• Chung HH
• Lee SW
• Yi A
• Je BK
• Kim BH

• KMID: 1443582
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/jksr.2011.64.1.49

Abstract

PURPOSE
We wanted to evaluate the capability of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for diagnosing chronic liver disease by comparing the signal intensity change (SIC) of the hepatic parenchyma of patients with chronic liver disease with that of patients with a normal liver.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This retrospective study included 50 patients who were pathologically confirmed as having liver cirrhosis (n=41) or chronic hepatitis (n=9) by surgery (n=9) or biopsy (n=41), and they all underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI between June 2008 and May 2010 (i.e., the patient group). We also analyzed 30 patients with normal livers as the control group. Quantitative image analysis was performed by measuring the signal-to-noise ratios for the pre-contrast images and the post-contrast 2-, 3-, 10-, 20-min delay images and then calculating the SIC of the pre-contrast and post-contrast images. We performed a detailed analysis of the collected data, which was transformed into a logarithmic form. The SICs of the two groups were compared by Greenhouse-Geisser sphericity correction.
RESULTS
Comparison of the SIC between the two groups showed a significant difference on the hepatocyte-phase 20-min image (p<0.0001). The mean SICs with log transformation for the patient and normal groups were 1.90 +/- 0.10 and 2.23 +/- 0.13, respectively, and the optimal cut-off value of the SIC with log transformation on the 20-min delay hepatocyte-phase image was 2.17 (sensitivity: 66.7%, specificity: 84.0%, positive predictive value: 71.4%, negative predictive value: 80.8%).
CONCLUSION
Quantitative measurement of the SIC on the hepatocyte-phase image by Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI could provide a convenient method to noninvasively diagnose chronic liver disease.

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Gadolinium DTPA
Hepatitis, Chronic
Humans
Liver
Liver Cirrhosis
Liver Diseases
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Retrospective Studies
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Gadolinium DTPA

Figure

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  Fig. 1 A-D. The method for measuring the regions of interest at four points of the hepatic parenchyma in the right and left lobes of the liver.

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  Fig. 2 The temporal profiles of the signal intensity change after log transformation illustrate the relationship between the patient group with chronic liver disease and the control group at each phase.

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  Fig. 3 The receiver operating characteristic curves of the signal intensity change after log transformation between the precontrast images and the 20-min delay hepatocyte-phase images. Since the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the calculated p-value were 0.759 and 0.0001, respectively, this can be interpreted as there was a significant difference between the patient group with chronic liver disease and the control group.

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