Liver lobe volumes and the ratios of liver lobe volumes to spleen volume on magnetic resonance imaging for staging liver fibrosis in a minipig model.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate liver lobe volumes and the ratios of liver lobe volumes to spleen volume measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for quantitatively monitoring and staging liver fibrosis.


METHODS
Animal study was approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Sixteen minipigs were prospectively used to model liver fibrosis, and underwent abdominal gadolinium-enhanced MRI on 0, 5(th), 9(th), 16(th) and 21(st) weekend after modeling this disease staged by biopsy according to METAVIR classification system. On MRI, volume parameters including left lateral liver lobe volume (LLV), left medial liver lobe volume (LMV), right liver lobe volume (RV), caudate lobe volume (CV), and spleen volume (SV) were measured; and LLV/SV, LMV/SV, RV/SV and CV/SV were calculated. Statistical analyses were performed for staging this fibrosis.


RESULTS
LLV and CV increased with increasing stage of fibrosis (r = 0.711, 0.526, respectively; all P < 0.05). RV and LMV increased from stage 0 to 2 and decreased from 2 to 4; and RV/SV decreased from 0 to 1, increased from 1 to 2, and decreased from 3 to 4 (all P > 0.05). LLV/SV, LMV/SV and CV/SV decreased from stage 0 to 4 (r = -0.566, -0.748 and -0.620, respectively; all P < 0.05). LLV, CV, LLV/SV, LMV/SV, RV/SV, and CV/SV could distinguish stage 0-1 from 2-4 and 0-2 from 3-4 (all P < 0.05). Among these parameters, LLV and LMV/SV could best classify stage ≥2 and ≥3, respectively (area under receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.893 and 0.946, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
LLV and LMV/SV complement each other in staging liver fibrosis, and both parameters should be used to stage this disease.
Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, and Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Sichuan, China ; Department of Radiology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Hang
H
Li
Tian-wu
TW
Chen
Xiao-ming
XM
Zhang
Zhen-lin
ZL
Li
Jin-ling
JL
Zhang
Dan
D
Wang
Ting
T
Li
Jian-lin
JL
Wu
Xing
X
Guo
Xiao-li
XL
Chen
Li
L
Li
Xian-yong
XY
Xie
Zi-shu
ZS
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D009929:Organ Size; D012372:ROC Curve; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology*; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature