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Liver function correlates with liver-to-portal vein contrast ratio during the hepatobiliary phase with Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR at 3 Tesla

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Abstract

Purposes

To determine if liver-to-portal vein contrast ratio (LPC) correlates with liver function in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MR imaging.

Methods

A total of 92 patients with normal (n = 20) or HBV-related cirrhotic livers graded by Child–Pugh class A (n = 50), B (n = 17) or C (n = 5) who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced 3Tesla MR imaging were retrospectively reviewed. LPC was defined as the signal intensity ratio of liver parenchyma to portal vein on hepatobiliary phase (HBP) acquired at 20 min, and it was compared between normal and cirrhotic livers. The correlation between LPC and hepatic function parameters at HBP after injection was quantitatively analyzed as well.

Results

LPC differed between normal and cirrhotic livers significantly (P < 0.001). LPC constantly and significantly decreased from normal to cirrhotic livers with Child–Pugh class C at HBP imaging (P < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that total bilirubin (P = 0.011), albumin (P < 0.001), and platelet count (P = 0.007) were independent predictors of LPC at HBP imaging. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the optimal cutoff value for LPC to distinguish normal group from cirrhotic groups was 2.05 (AUC 0.98) with a sensitivity of 84.1% and a specificity of 100%.

Conclusion

The level of LPC on Gd-EOB-DTPA MR imaging can efficaciously indicate the severity of liver function in patients with HBV-related cirrhosis and was correlated with liver function parameters significantly. It might be used as an alternative imaging biomarker for assessing liver function.

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Acknowledgments

No funding was received in this study.

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Author notes

  1. Weiguo Zhang and Xiao Wang contribute to the article equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Shizi street No. 188, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu, China

    Weiguo Zhang, Xiao Wang, Youhan Miao, Chunhong Hu & Weifeng Zhao

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  1. Weiguo Zhang
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  2. Xiao Wang
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  3. Youhan Miao
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  5. Weifeng Zhao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weifeng Zhao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

For this type of study, formal consent is not required. This retrospective review of existing data was approved by the institutional review board of The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, and written informed consent was waived for all patients.

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Zhang, W., Wang, X., Miao, Y. et al. Liver function correlates with liver-to-portal vein contrast ratio during the hepatobiliary phase with Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR at 3 Tesla. Abdom Radiol 43, 2262–2269 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-018-1462-y

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