An experimental study of MR elastography and Gd-EOB-DTPA dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in quantitative evaluation of liver fibrosis / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare the diagnostic efficacy of MR elastography (MRE), Gd-EOB-DTPA dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in early quantitative evaluation of liver fibrosis (LF) staging of experimental rabbits.Methods:From April to December 2019, 200 healthy rabbits were randomly divided into LF group ( n=160) and control group ( n=40). LF group were injected subcutaneously with 50% CCl 4 oil solution, while control group were injected with normal saline solution. The LF group ( n=40) and control group ( n=10) were randomly selected at the end of the 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th weeks respectively to undergo axial MRI scan including MRE and Gd-EOB-DTPA DCE-MRI. The quantitative parameter values were obtained, including liver stiffness (LS), volume transfer constant (K trans), reflux rate constant (K ep), volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space (V e) and volume fraction of plasma (V p). Histopathological LF staging was based on Scheuer staging. One-way ANOVA analysis was used to evaluate the differences of LS, K trans, K ep, V e and V p among different LF stages. The Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between pathological LF staging and quantitative parameter values. The ROC curve was used to compare the diagnositic performance of all quantitative parameter values. Results:Among the final qualified 150 rabbits, there were 32 in F0, 32 in F1, 35 in F2, 30 in F3, 21 in F4. Significant differences of LS, K trans, K ep, V e and V p were found among different LF stages. There was correlation between LS, K trans, K ep and LF stages ( r=0.832, 0.730, -0.617, all P<0.001), respectively. However, no statistically correlation was found between V e, V p and LF stages ( r=-0.074, P=0.367; r=-0.078, P=0.342). The area under the ROC curve (AUCs) of LS were the greatest (0.920 for F0 vs F1-F4, 0.900 for F0 vs F1-F2, 0.945 for F0 vs F3-F4, 0.926 for F1-F2 vs F3-F4), while the AUCs of K trans were 0.897, 0.863, 0.942, 0.809, respectively. Conclusion:The early quantitative diagnostic efficacy for LF staging by MRE was superior to Gd-EOB-DTPA DCE-MRI in rabbits.