The value of gadoxetate disodium enhanced MRI in the quantitative assessment of liver fibrosis / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the value of quantitative analysis of the relative signal intensity (SI) of liver gadolinium disodium enhanced MRI in the grading of liver fibrosis.Methods:From January 2018 to October 2020, the relevant data of 131 patients who underwent gadoxetate disodium enhanced MRI examination were retrospectively analyzed in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital. All patients had histopathological results. According to the Laennec grading system of liver fibrosis, the patients were classified in F0-F1 (27 cases), F2 (19 cases), F3 (17 cases) and F4 (68 cases). The signal intensity of the liver, erector spinae and spleen were measured before and after the enhancement; and 5 post-contrast relative SI parameters were calculated, including the relative enhancement (RE), liver-to-muscle contrast ratio (LMC), liver-to-spleen contrast ratio (LSC), LMC increase rate, LSC increase rate. The differences of 5 post-contrast relative SI parameters among the different fibrosis grades were compared using one-way analysis of variance. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of 5 post-contrast relative SI parameters in the diagnosis of clinically significant liver fibrosis (F2-F4), advanced liver fibrosis (F3-F4) and liver cirrhosis (F4).Results:The differences of RE, LMC, LSC, LMC increase rate, LSC increase rate among different liver fibrosis grades were statistically significant (all P<0.001). With the increasing of the degree of liver fibrosis, the RE, LMC increase rate and LSC increase rate showed decreased. ROC results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of RE, LMC increase rate, LSC increase rate in diagnosing liver fibrosis in all levels were greater than those of LMC and LSC. The AUC values of RE, LMC increase rate, LSC increase rate in the diagnosis of significant fibrosis (F2-F4) were 0.89, 0.86, 0.83, with the sensitivity as 81.7%, 71.2%, 81.7%, and the specificity as 96.3%, 85.2%, and 74.1%, respectively. The AUC values of RE, LMC increase rate, LSC increase rate in the diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis (F3-F4) were 0.93, 0.88, 0.86, with the sensitivity as 84.7%, 72.9%, 91.8%, and the specificity as 91.3%, 87.0 %, 71.7%; and the AUC values for diagnosing liver cirrhosis (F4) were 0.92, 0.86, 0.85, with the sensitivity as 82.4%, 76.5%, 92.7%, and the specificity as 88.9%, 81.0%, 65.1%, respectively. Conclusion:Gadoxetate disodium enhanced MRI relative SI parameters including RE, LMC increase rate and LSC increase rate might be used as a useful imaging marker in liver fibrosis grading.