title: Carbogen gas-challenge blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging in hepatocellular carcinoma: Initial results.
abstract: The present study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of performing carbogen gas-challenge blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 25 patients with HCC underwent T2* mapping derived from multi-echo gradient-recalled echo imaging prior to and following breathing carbogen (95% O2and 5% CO2) for 10 min. Follow-up T2* mapping was performed in 5 patients 1 day after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). T2*, R2* and ∆R2* values (R2*air - R2*carb) of the whole tumor, the solid region of the tumor and the adjacent liver parenchyma were measured and compared in the patients with HCC. The T2* value of the solid region of the tumor following carbogen breathing was higher than the value following room air breathing (P<0.05), and the R2* value of room air breathing was higher than that following carbogen breathing (P<0.05). ∆R2* values of the tumor and the adjacent liver parenchyma prior to and following carbogen breathing were 2.4±7.8, 8.1±14.7 and 2.0±11.0 sec-1, respectively. R2* values were significantly decreased in 2 cases 1 day after TACE (17.8 vs. -3.4 sec-1and 10.2 vs. 2.4 sec-1). Overall, carbogen gas-challenge BOLD MRI measurements are feasible in clinical settings and may serve as a novel functional biomarker for monitoring the treatment efficacy of embolic therapies for HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nangjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Long Jiang
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Zhuoli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nangjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nangjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nangjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guang Ming
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lu
keywords: blood oxygen level-dependent; carbogen; liver tumors; magnetic resonance imaging