Efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of extrahepatic cholestasis-related hepatic fibrosis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) in the diagnosis and staging of fibrosis induced by experimental bile duct ligation (BDL).


METHODS
Twenty-four rats were divided randomly into four groups: control, BDL--3 days, BDL--2 weeks, and BDL--4 weeks. DWI was performed with b-values of 100 and 500 on the rats from control group at day zero, on the rats from the BDL--3 days group at the end of day 3, on the rats from the BDL--2 weeks group at the end of day 14, and on the rats from the BDL--4 weeks at the end of day 28.


RESULTS
When fibrosis scores generated in all groups were evaluated together, a strong negative correlation was detected between fibrosis scores and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values measured using b 100 and b 500. ADC values obtained using b 100 were found to be significantly higher compared to the fibrosis observed in both the BDL--2 weeks and BDL--4 weeks groups (P < 0.003 and P < 0.001, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
We think that DWI may be an alternative to liver biopsy for the diagnosis and staging of hepatic fibrosis with underlying extrahepatic cholestasis.
Süleyman
S
Ayvaz
Sedat Alpaslan
SA
Tuncel
Güray
G
Can
Bekir
B
Çağli
Turan
T
Karaca
Selim
S
Demirtaş
Muhammed
M
Elmaoğlu
Mehmet Ercüment
ME
Ünlü
Mehmet
M
Pul
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001651:Cholestasis, Extrahepatic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity