Purpose: To quantify liver T1 relaxation times before and after oxygen inhalation in patients with and without liver cirrhosis using a 3 Tesla (T) MRI.
Materials and Methods:Institutional Review Board approval and written informed consent were obtained. Ninety-two noncirrhotic patients and 87 patients with hepatitis B viral liver cirrhosis (72 Child-Pugh class A and 15 Child-Pugh class B or C) underwent MRI with a 3.0T system before and after the supply of 100% oxygen at a rate of 15 L/min by means of a nonrebreather ventilation mask for 3 min. T1 maps were acquired using threedimensional spoiled gradient echo sequences with two different flip angles (2 and 14 ) and a fixed TR/TE (2.54 ms/0.95 ms). Liver T1 values were obtained using a T1 processing tool (MapIT software). The mean baseline T1 values of three groups (control, Child-Pugh class A, and Child-Pugh class B/C) were compared using an analysis of variance test. Liver T1 value before and after oxygenation was compared using a paired t-test for each group.Results: The baseline liver T1 value was significantly higher in the control group (941 6 136 ms) than in ChildPugh A (858 6 143 ms) and Child-Pugh B/C (783 6 164 ms) group (P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001). The reduction in the liver T1 value after oxygen inhalation was significant in the control group (P ¼ 0.012) but not significant in Child-Pugh class A (P ¼ 0.079) and Child-Pugh class B/C (P ¼ 0.752).
Conclusion:The baseline liver T1 relaxation time was significantly different between the patients with and without liver cirrhosis. The shortening effect of oxygen on the liver T1 value was significant in the control group but not in the cirrhotic patients.
: EOB-MRI using a 3-T system is more accurate than CE-PET/CT, especially for the detection of small (≤1.0 cm) lesions. Patient-based analysis revealed that EOB-MRI has a higher sensitivity and negative predictive value than CE-PET/CT.
EOB-MRI was more useful for the detection of colorectal liver metastases, while DWI was more useful for their characterization. The combination of EOB-MRI and DWI showed significantly higher accuracy and sensitivity for the preoperative detection of small colorectal liver metastases than DWI.
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