title: The relationship between liver function and liver parenchymal contrast enhancement on Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationships between liver function parameters and the degree of hepatic contrast enhancement on gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the hepatocyte phase, as well as to clarify whether Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase could be used to evaluate liver function and liver function reserve.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 150 patients were classified into the following 4 groups: patients with normal liver function without liver cirrhosis (the NLF group) and cirrhosis patients with Child-Pugh Classes A, B, and C (the LCA, LCB, and LCC groups, respectively). The relative enhancement ratio (RE) of the liver parenchyma in the T1-vibe sequence was calculated from measurements of the signal intensity before (SI pre) and 90min after (SI post) the intravenous administration of Gd-BOPTA, using the following formula: RE=(SI post-SI pre)/SI pre. Statistical analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the REs of the liver parenchyma and liver function parameters, as well as the different REs of the liver parenchyma among the NLF, LCA, LCB, and LCC groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increased REs of the hepatic parenchyma showed correlations with decreased serum levels of total bilirubin (r=-0.263, P<0.01) and prothrombin time (r=-0.24, P<0.01), and elevated serum levels of albumin (r=0.328, P<0.01) for all of the patients. The REs of the liver parenchyma were significantly higher for the NLF and LCA groups compared with the LCB (P<0.001) and LCC (P<0.001) groups, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intracellular uptake of Gd-BOPTA decreased with impaired liver function. Measurement of the degree of the liver parenchymal contrast enhancement on GD-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase might be a non-invasive technique for assessing liver function and liver function reserve.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, China.
authors.forename: Xinya
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, China. Electronic address: doctorlqw@163.com.
authors.forename: Qingwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008099:Liver / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C064572:gadobenic acid; D008536:Meglumine
keywords: Cirrhosis; Contrast enhancement; Gd-BOPTA; Liver function; Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging