title: Usefulness of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR imaging in the evaluation of simple steatosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the usefulness of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MR imaging (EOB-MRI) in differentiating between simple steatosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), as compared with MR in-phase/out-of-phase imaging. The correlations between the MR features and histological characteristics were preliminarily investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  From April 2008 to October 2011, 25 patients (13 simple steatosis and 12 NASH) who underwent both EOB-MRI and in-phase/out-of-phase imaging were analyzed. The hepatobiliary-phase enhancement ratio and signal intensity loss on opposed-phase T1-weighted images (fat fraction) were compared between the simple steatosis and NASH groups. In the simple steatosis and NASH groups, the correlations between enhancement ratio and histological grade/stage were explored. In the NASH group, fat fraction was correlated with the steatosis score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The enhancement ratio in NASH was significantly lower than that in simple steatosis (P = 0.03). In the simple steatosis and NASH groups, the enhancement ratio was significantly correlated with the fibrosis stage (r = -0.469, P = 0.018). Fat fraction in NASH was strongly correlated with the steatosis score (r = 0.728, P = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In simple steatosis and NASH, the hepatobiliary-phase enhancement ratio of EOB-MRI showed significant association with fibrosis stage, and may be a useful discriminating parameter compared with the fat fraction measured by in-phase/out-of-phase imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Japan. vojoan@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitao
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kozaka
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yasuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Junichiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanada
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gabata
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA