title: Liver fibrosis staging using T1 mapping on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI compared with DW imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the utility of T1 mapping on gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for staging liver fibrosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board and included 145 patients (mean age: 54 years old; 115 men and 30 women). Necro-inflammatory activity grade (G) and liver fibrosis stage (S) were histopathologically determined. T1 relaxation time and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the liver were measured and the reduction rate of the T1 relaxation time (Δ%) was calculated. T1 relaxation time measurements were compared with ADC values according to S/G scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Unenhanced hepatobiliary phase (HBP) and Δ% of T1 relaxation times showed significant correlations with S/G scores (rho: 0.28, 0.51, -0.35 for the S score, 0.26, 0.39, -0.26 for the G score, respectively, p<0.05). ADC values showed significant correlation with the S score (rho: -0.17, p = 0.04) and did not correlate significantly with the G score (rho: -0.07, p = 0.39). The areas under receiver operator characteristics (AUC) curve of unenhanced HBP, Δ% T1 relaxation time, and the ADC value were 0.68, 0.82, 0.71, 0.61 for the identification of S ≥ 3, and 0.63, 0.68, 0.62, 0.52 for the identification of G ≥ 3, respectively. The HBP T1 relaxation time was better than that of ADC for identification of S ≥ 3 (p = 0.0005) and G ≥ 3 (p = 0.014).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HBP T1 relaxation time measurement on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI images might be a potential biomarker in the staging of hepatic fibrosis, and was more accurate than the ADC measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China. Electronic address: raoxray@163.com.
authors.forename: S-X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: C-Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: R-C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: M-S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA