title: Direct portal vein thrombosis visualization with t2*--weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the feasibility of direct magnetic resonance portal vein thrombosis (PVT) visualization with T2*-weighted imaging (T2*WI) without contrast agent.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with PVT were included in this study. All of them were imaged with contrast-enhanced CT (CE-CT) as well as non-contrast MRI T1, T2 and T2*WI. Imaging data was independently analyzed by two experienced radiologists. T2*WI of all PVT was compared slice-by-slice with each of the comparison sequences (T1WI, T2WI and CE-CT) on the following categories: the location, size, boundary, and conspicuity of thrombus and portal veins.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average score of PVT visualization in T2*WI was higher than T1WI and T2WI in location, size, boundary and conspicuity (t = 7.54 - 84.16, P<0.05), and higher than CE-CT in boundary and conspicuity (t = 3.03- 6.98, P<0.05). For portal vein visualization, there was no significant score difference in left, middle and right portal veins between CE-CT and T2*WI (t = -1.76- 1.35, P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest T2*WI can characterize PVT accurately with high quality without the use of intravenous contrast agents.
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 30 Gaotanyan Road, Chongqing 400038, China;
authors.forename: Chuanming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haacke
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Daiquan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000473:pathology*; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: MRI; Portal Vein Thrombosis; T2*WI.
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