Measurement of the apparent diffusion coefficient in the liver: is it a reliable index for hepatic disease diagnosis?
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the validity of the hepatic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurement. The influence of differences in measured location and administration of Buscopan (hyoscine butylbromide) for ADC were assessed.


METHODS
SENSE-DWI (b = 0, 500) was obtained before and after Buscopan administration to 30 patients suspected of having a liver tumor. In this sequence, respiration gating was employed, but cardiac triggering was not. ADC measurement was performed in the hepatic parenchyma of both right and left lobes in selected slices. A statistical analysis was performed to estimate the correlation among ADC, measured location, Buscopan, and pulse rate. The images were visually evaluated to categorize the subcardiac signal loss in the left lobe.


RESULTS
The ADC showed higher values in the left lobe than in the right lobe in both pre- and postloaded studies (P < 0.001). In a comparison between ADCs in the pre- and postloaded studies, the differences were not significant in the left lobe (P = 0.93) or the right lobe (P = 0.41). No correlation was noted between ADCs and the pulse rate. Visual evaluation revealed that the subcardiac signal loss was more prominent in the postloaded study.


CONCLUSIONS
ADC measurement of the left hepatic lobe was far more incorrect than that of the right lobe if cardiac gating was not employed. The administration of Buscopan worsened the image quality of the left lobe and made visual evaluation difficult.
Nasu
Katsuhiro
K
National Cancer Center Hospital East, 6-5-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8577, Japan. kanasu@east.ncc.go.jp
Kuroki
Yoshifumi
Y
Sekiguchi
Ryuzo
R
Kazama
Toshiki
T
Nakajima
Hiroto
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002086:Butylscopolammonium Bromide; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006391:Hemangioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007564:Japan; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D002086:Butylscopolammonium Bromide