Age- and Gender-Associated Liver Physiological T1rho Dynamics Demonstrated with a Clinically Applicable Single-Breathhold Acquisition.

To understand women's and men's physiological ranges of liver T1rho relaxation time measured with a single breathhold black blood sequence, this healthy volunteer study was conducted in 62 women (mean age, 38.9 y; range, 18-75 y) and 34 men (mean age, 44.7 y; range, 24-80 y). Approval from the institutional ethics committee was obtained. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed with a 3.0T scanner with six spin-lock times of 0, 10, 20, 25, 35, and 50 ms and a single breathhold of 12 s per slice acquisition. Six slices were acquired for each examination. The results demonstrated that the female liver T1rho value ranged between 35.07 and 51.97 ms and showed an age-dependent decrease, with younger women having a higher measurement. The male liver T1rho value ranged between 34.94 and 43.39 ms, with no evidential age dependence. Postmenopausal women had similar liver T1rho values as men. For women, there was a trend that the liver T1rho value could be 4% to 5% lower during the menstrual phase than during the nonmenstrual phase. For both women and men, no evidential association was seen between body mass index and liver T1rho.