title: MR prediction of liver fibrosis using a liver-specific contrast agent: Superparamagnetic iron oxide versus Gd-EOB-DTPA.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether the uptake of a liver-specific contrast agent in the liver parenchyma was correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study included 54 and 63 patients who underwent superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)- and gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI before liver surgery, respectively. For each patient, we calculated ΔR2* and ΔR2, which represent differences in R2* and R2 values of the liver parenchyma before and after administration of SPIO; and the increase rate of liver-to-spleen signal intensity ratio (LSR) on the hepatobiliary phase compared with the precontrast image. The correlation of each MR parameter with the degree of liver fibrosis (F0 to F4) was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The increase rate of LSR was best correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis and significantly decreased as the liver fibrosis progressed (rho = -0.641; P < 0.0001). It showed sensitivity of 76.9% and specificity of 83.3% in differentiating F3 or greater fibrosis when 1.126 or less was set up as a cut-off value. No significant correlation was obtained between ΔR2* or ΔR2 and the degree of liver fibrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA in the liver parenchyma decreased as the liver fibrosis progressed. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;36:664-671. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. anishie@radiol.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishie
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asayama
authors.forename: Kousei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishigami
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kakihara
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Yukihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takayama
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Akinobu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taketomi
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirabe
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obara
authors.forename: Kengo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimitsu
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D003911:Dextrans; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; C097921:ferumoxtran-10; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA