Age dependence of spleen- and muscle-corrected hepatic signal enhancement on hepatobiliary phase gadoxetate MRI.
OBJECTIVE
To identify correlations of signal enhancements (SE) and SE normalized to reference tissues of the spleen, kidney, liver, musculus erector spinae (MES) and ductus hepatocholedochus (DHC) on hepatobiliary phase gadoxetate-enhanced MRI with patient age in non-cirrhotic patients.


METHODS
A heterogeneous cohort of 131 patients with different clinical backgrounds underwent a standardized 3.0-T gadoxetate-enhanced liver MRI between November 2008 and June 2013. After exclusion of cirrhotic patients, a cohort of 75 patients with no diagnosed diffuse liver disease was selected. The ratio of signal intensity 20 min post- to pre-contrast administration (SE) in the spleen, kidney, liver, MES and DHC, and the SE of the kidney, liver and DHC normalized to the reference tissues spleen or MES were compared to patient age.


RESULTS
Patient age was inversely correlated with the liver SE normalized to the spleen and MES SE (both p < 0.001) and proportionally with the SE of the spleen (p = 0.043), the MES (p = 0.030) and the kidney (p = 0.022). No significant correlations were observed for the DHC (p = 0.347) and liver SE (p = 0.606).


CONCLUSIONS
The age dependence of hepatic SE normalized to the enhancement in the spleen and MES calls for a cautious interpretation of these quantification methods.


CONCLUSIONS
• Patient age was inversely correlated with spleen- and MES-corrected liver rSE (p < 0.001). • Patient age was correlated with spleen (p = 0.043) and MES SE (p = 0.030). • Patient age may confound quantitative liver function assessment using gadoxetate-enhanced liver MRI.
Department of Radiology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Muellner Hauptstraße 48, 5020, Salzburg, Austria.|Clinical Research Group, Hirslanden Clinic St. Anna, St.Anna-Strasse 32, 6006, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Simon
S
Matoori
Clinical Research Group, Hirslanden Clinic St. Anna, St.Anna-Strasse 32, 6006, Lucerne, Switzerland.|Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1-5 / 10, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Radiology, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Johannes M
JM
Froehlich
Department of Surgery, Clinic for Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Stefan
S
Breitenstein
Department of Radiology, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Aleksis
A
Doert
Department of Radiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Armauer Hansens vei 20, 4011, Stavanger, Norway.
Viktoria
V
Pozdniakova
Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Downs Road, Sutton, SM2 5PT, Surrey, England, UK.
Dow-Mu
DM
Koh
Department of Radiology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Muellner Hauptstraße 48, 5020, Salzburg, Austria. agutzeit2000@gmail.com.|Clinical Research Group, Hirslanden Clinic St. Anna, St.Anna-Strasse 32, 6006, Lucerne, Switzerland. agutzeit2000@gmail.com.|Department of Radiology, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland. agutzeit2000@gmail.com.
Andreas
A
Gutzeit
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA
Gd-EOB-DTPA; Liver; MRI; Patient age; Spleen