title: Magnetic resonance laparoscopy: A new non-invasive technique for the assessment of chronic viral liver disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Laparoscopy-guided liver biopsy is the most accurate method for assessing liver fibrosis but have several limitations. We designed a non-invasive method, called magnetic resonance laparoscopy (MRL), based on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, to assess liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C virus.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively analyzed 49 patients with normal liver and 353 patients with chronic viral hepatitis, laparoscopic liver biopsy was performed on 109 patients and 244 patients were diagnosed as having liver cirrhosis clinically. The MRL findings of the liver surface were classified into three categories: (i) smooth (essentially smooth surface of the entire liver or with limited areas of depression); (ii) partially irregular (several interconnected depressions on the surface mainly in the left lobe of the liver); and (iii) diffusely irregular (nodules present on the liver surface). Patients with diffusely irregular liver surface was diagnosed as liver cirrhosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The liver surface changed with the progression of liver fibrosis from smooth, partially irregular to diffusely irregular, irrespective of viral type. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for the diagnosis of cirrhosis according to the surface findings on MRL were 96%, 100%, 95% and 95%, respectively. The cirrhotic liver showed: (i) disappearance of impression of the right ribs; (ii) enlargement of the lateral segment; and (iii) atrophy of the right lobe according to Child-Pugh classification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicated that MRL is a potentially useful non-invasive examination for evaluation of liver fibrosis associated with viral hepatitis.
authors: Department of Hepatology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Suguru
authors: S
authors: Ogura
authors: Satoshi
authors: S
authors: Saitoh
authors: Yusuke
authors: Y
authors: Kawamura
authors: Hitomi
authors: H
authors: Sezaki
authors: Tetsuya
authors: T
authors: Hosaka
authors: Norio
authors: N
authors: Akuta
authors: Masahiro
authors: M
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Fumitaka
authors: F
authors: Suzuki
authors: Yoshiyuki
authors: Y
authors: Suzuki
authors: Yasuji
authors: Y
authors: Arase
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Ikeda
authors: Hiromitsu
authors: H
authors: Kumada
keywords: chronic hepatitis; gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid; laparoscopy; multiple resonance imaging; multiple resonance laparoscopy