Evaluation of liver function in patients with chronic hepatitis B using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping at different acquisition time points: a feasibility study.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to explore the impact of different acquisition times on the evaluation of liver function levels in chronic hepatitis B using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 positioning technology under 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

METHODS

A total of 146 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were classified into four groups as follows: chronic hepatitis B without liver cirrhosis (CH, 22 cases), liver cirrhosis with Child-Pugh classification A (LCA 63 cases), Child-Pugh B (LCB 47 cases) and Child-Pugh C (LCC 14 cases). Normal liver function (NLF) group was composed of 23 persons who had healthy liver and no medical histories of hepatitis. T1 mapping images were performed before and after administration of Gd-EOB-DPTA using Look-Locker sequence. Changes in T1 relaxation time (T1rt), the reduction rate of T1 relaxation time (ΔT1) and the increase in T1 relaxation rate (ΔR1) of liver over time (at 5, 10, 15 and 20 min) were investigated and compared among all five groups using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r) was used to show the correlations of these parameters in different liver function groups.

RESULTS

In the NLF, CH, LCA and LCB groups, postT1 gradually decreased, while the ΔT1 and ΔR1 gradually increased with time. The parameters were compared between different liver function levels at the same time point, and the differences were statistically significant except for NLF-CH, NLF-LCA and CH-LCA. There was no significant difference in the area under the ROC curve of other parameters at 10, 15 and 20 min. At each time point, no correlation was found between preT1rt and the degrees of liver function. PostT1rt was positively correlated with liver function classification, while ΔT1 and ΔR1 were negatively correlated with liver function classification.

CONCLUSION

Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping magnetic resonance imaging is beneficial to assess liver function. Using the Gd-EOB-DTPA to enhance T1 mapping imaging to assess liver function can shorten the observation time of the hepatobiliary period and 10 min after enhancement may be the best time point.