title: Quantitative and qualitative comparison of 3.0T and 1.5T MR imaging of the liver in patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our study was to compare signal characteristics and image qualities of MR imaging at 3.0T and 1.5T in patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  25 consecutive patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease underwent abdominal MR imaging at both 3.0T and 1.5T within a 6-month interval. A retrospective study was conducted to obtain quantitative and qualitative data from both 3.0T and 1.5T MRI. Quantitative image analysis was performed by measuring the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and the contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) by the Students t-test. Qualitative image analysis was assessed by grading each sequence on a 3- and 4-point scale, regarding the presence of artifacts and image quality, respectively. Statistical analysis consisted of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the mean SNRs and CNRs of the liver parenchyma and the portal vein were significantly higher at 3.0T than at 1.5T on portal and equilibrium phases of volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) images (P<0.05). The mean SNRs were significantly higher at 3.0T than at 1.5T on T1-weighted spoiled gradient echo (SGE) images (P<0.05). However, there were no significantly differences on T2-weighted short-inversion-time inversion recovery (STIR) images. Overall image qualities of the 1.5T non-contrast T1- and T2-weighted sequences were significantly better than 3.0T (P<0.01). In contrast, overall image quality of the 3.0T post-gadolinium VIBE sequence was significantly better than 1.5T (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MR imaging of post-gadolinium VIBE sequence at 3.0T has quantitative and qualitative advantages of evaluating for diffuse parenchymal liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA. mtsuru@dk2.so-net.ne.jp
authors.forename: Masakatsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsurusaki
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Semelka
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zapparoli
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Elias
authors.forename: Ersan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altun
authors.forename: Ertan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pamuklar
authors.forename: Kazuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity