The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of hepatocyte fraction on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for the assessment of liver function of HBV-induced cirrhosis. We used Look-Locker sequences to acquire T1 mapping images pre and post-contrast at 20 minutes after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration, hepatocyte fraction (HeF) and KHep values were measured. Our study showed that hepatocyte fraction is useful for the evaluation of liver function of HBV-induced cirrhosis.
Assessment of the liver function is an essential procedure for preventing hepatic failure and for the medical management of patients with hepatic dysfunction. Gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) is a hepatocyte-specific contrast agent for MRI of the liver, uptake and metabolism of Gd-EOB-DTPA is related to hepatocyte function1. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of hepatocyte fraction using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for the assessment of liver function of HBV-induced cirrhosis. Our study based on a simple pharmacokinetic model2( Fig.1) and the ΔR1 values to calculate.
R1(t) = 1 / T1(t) t: time after contrast injection (min)
ΔR1 = [ R1(t) - R1(0) ]
Hepatocyte fraction = ΔR1Hepatobilitary / (ΔR1Hepatobilitary+ΔR1BloodEES)
KHep = (ΔR1Hepatobilitary / ΔR1BloodEES) / t
To assess the ability of hepatocyte fraction on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for the evaluation of liver function.
HeF and KHep values of different groups were shown in table 1 (Fig.2). HeF and KHep values progressively decreased from NLF, LCA to LCB group. HeF with LCB group was significantly different (P<0.05) in comparison with that of NLF group or LCA group, no significantly different (P>0.05) was found between NLF group and LCA group. KHep showed significant differences (P<0.05) among the three groups.
Diagnostic performance for discriminating NLF group from LCA group were shown in table 2.
Diagnostic performance for differentiating LCA group from LCB group were shown in table 3.
1 Katsube T, Okada M, Kumano S, et al. Estimation of liver function using T1 mapping on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging[J]. Invest Radiol, 2011, 46(4): 277-283.
2 ahlqvist Leinhard O, Dahlström N, Kihlberg J, et al. Quantifying differences in hepatic uptake of the liver specific contrast agents Gd-EOB-DTPA and Gd-BOPTA: a pilot study[J]. Eur Radiol, 2012, 22(3): 642-653.
3 Tsuda N, Harada K, Matsui O. Effect of change in transporter expression on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging during hepatocarcinogenesis in rats [J]. J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2011, 26(3): 568-576.
4 Ba-Ssalamah A, Bastati N, Wibmer A, et al. Hepatic gadoxetic acid uptake as a measure of diffuse liver disease: Where are we? [J]. J Magn. Reson. Imaging, 2017, 45(3): 646-659.
5 Pan S, Wang XQ, Guo QY. Quantitative assessment of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B and C: T1 mapping on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced liver magnetic resonance imaging[J]. World J Gastroenterol. 2018, 24(18): 2024-2035.
Table 1 HeF and KHep values of different groups.