title: Preliminary Study of MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Liver for the Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the feasibility of differentiating between hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and healthy liver using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
  
  
  METHODS
  All subjects underwent an abdominal examination on a 3.0T MRI scanner. Two radiologists independently scored the image quality (IQ). An optimal set of DTI parameters was obtained from a group of fifteen volunteers with multiple b-values (100, 300, 500, and 800 s/mm2) and various diffusion-encoding directions (NED = 6, 9, and 12)using two way ANOVA analysis. Eighteen Patients with HCC underwent DTI scans with the optimized parameters. Fractional anisotropy(FA) and average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were measured. The differences of FA and ADC values between liver healthy region and HCC lesion were compared through paired t tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant changes in liver IQ and FA/ADC values with increased NED(P >0.05), whereas the liver IQ and FA/ADC values decreased significantly with increased b-values(P <0.05). Good IQ, acceptable scan time and reasonable FA/ADC values were acquired using NED = 9 with b-value of (0,300) s/mm2. Using the optimized DTI sequence, ADC value of the tumor lesion was significantly lower than that of the healthy liver region (1.30 ± 0.34×10-3 vs 1.52 ± 0.27×10-3 mm2/s, P = 0.013), whereas the mean FA value of the tumor lesion (0.42 ± 0.11) was significantly higher than the normal liver region (0.32 ± 0.10) (P = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Either FA or ADC value from DTI can be used to differentiate HCC from healthy liver. HCC lead to higher FA value and lower ADC value on DTI than healthy liver.
authors: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
authors: Xinghui
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Department of Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
authors: Qi
authors: Q
authors: Liang
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Wayne State University, Detroit, 48201, MI, United States of America.
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Zhuang
authors: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
authors: Xiaoming
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
authors: Tianwu
authors: T
authors: Chen
authors: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
authors: Liangjun
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Department of Radiology, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, 48201, MI, United States of America.
authors: Horea
authors: H
authors: Calimente
authors: Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, 48201, MI, United States of America.
authors: Yinan
authors: Y
authors: Wei
authors: Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, 48201, MI, United States of America.
authors: Jiani
authors: J
authors: Hu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult