Quantitative evaluation of hepatic fibrosis by fibro Scan and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping magnetic resonance imaging in chronic hepatitis B.

PURPOSE: Studies have found that both FibroScan (FS) and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping magnetic resonance imaging (Gd-MRI) could assess liver fibrosis (LF) with high effectiveness. The aim of this study is to compare their accuracy in the quantitative evaluation of LF in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and to explore the diagnostic accuracy of their combination. METHODS: 160 patients with CHB were included in this study. FS and Gd-MRI were performed within 3 months before the pathological LF staging, which was classified according to the Scheuer-Ludwig scale. The liver stiffness measurement (LSM) was obtained by FS. T1 mapping images of the liver before and 20 min after enhancement were obtained by Look-Locker Gd-MRI. RESULTS: There were 45, 35, 31 and 49 patients with stage S1, S2, S3 and S4 LF, respectively. LSM increased and the reduction rate of T1 relaxation time of 20 min (rrT120min%) decreased with the severity of LF. The area under curve (AUC) of LSM, rrT120min% and LSM + rrT120min% for the diagnosis of ≥ S2 LF were 0.892, 0.811 and 0.900, respectively. The AUC for ≥ S3 LF was 0.883, 0.838 and 0.899, respectively. The AUC for S4 LF was 0.882, 0.894 and 0.928, respectively. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic accuracy of FS is better than that of Gd-MRI in the evaluation of ≥ S2 stage LF. The combination of these two methods significantly improved the diagnostic efficiency in the evaluation of S4 stage LF.