Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Diffusion-weighted Imaging in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A 3.0-T MR Study

Abstract

D is significantly decreased in steatosis. The reduction in D* reflects decreased liver parenchymal perfusion in steatosis. Therefore, steatosis can affect diffusion parameters obtained with IVIM.

Intravoxel incoherent motion: application in differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma and focal nodular hyperplasia

“…FNH contains bile ducts; therefore, after taking up a hepatocyte-specific contrast agent, delayed biliary excretion is possible. Lastly, the background for state of the organ, such as the liver fat content, fibrotic tissue fraction, and even chronic disease such as pancreatitis, could have considerable influences on the measurement of parameters (7,38,39).…”

Liver intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) magnetic resonance imaging: a comprehensive review of published data on normal values and applications for fibrosis and tumor evaluation

“…Various fitting algorithms have been used to determine IVIM parameters, including asymptotic fitting (9)(10)(11)(12)(19)(20)(21)24,41,45,46,48,51,53), nonlinear least square (usually Levenberg-Marquardt) fitting (23,42,47,52,54,55), and Bayesian fitting (15,22,40,43,50). Current review cannot draw conclusion which one is better than others, nor can the mean values be compared (Figure 8).…”

“…With IVIM technique, Luciani et al reported that Dfast was significantly reduced in the liver fibrosis compared with those in the healthy liver group, but there was no significant difference between Dslow and PF measurements in the healthy liver (n=25) and the liver fibrosis (n=12) groups (11). Guiu et al (9) reported that Dslow and Dfast were significantly lower in steatotic compared with nonsteatotic livers; however, PF was significantly higher in steatotic compared with nonsteatotic livers. In another study, Patel et al (12) reported that the value of Dslow, PF and Dfast in liver cirrhosis were lower than non-cirrhosis liver; however, no further grading was performed within their liver cirrhosis subjects as only three patients had histopathology data.…”

“…Accumulation of collagen deposits and activated stellate cells contribute to increased hepatic resistance to portal blood flow, development of portal hypertension, and reduced portal blood perfusion. The decrease of blood perfusion can arise from a number of concomitant alterations in the tissue microenvironment, including collagen deposition, fatty (9)(10)(11)15,23,24,42,43,45,46,(48)(49)(50)(51)(53)(54)(55), free-breathing (FB) (19)(20)(21)40,41,47), and breath-hold (BH) (44). Solid line represents the median value of each group.…”

“…Previously, the use of IVIM imaging was limited to neuroradiologic applications because the abdominal organs can be subject to respiratory and other motion artifacts. The advent of respiratory gating combined with parallel imaging allows IVIM MRI to be attempted in the evaluation of abdominal organs, such as liver (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Yamada et al (7) were the first to assess IVIM MRI in abdominal organs, although they used only limited number of b values (30, 300, 900, and 1,100 s/mm 2 ), and did not calculate pseudodiffusion values.…”