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Effect of gadolinium on hepatic fat quantification using multi-echo reconstruction technique with T2* correction and estimation

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To determine whether hepatic fat quantification is affected by administration of gadolinium using a multiecho reconstruction technique with T2* correction and estimation.

Methods

Forty-eight patients underwent the investigational sequence for hepatic fat quantification at 3.0T MRI once before and twice after administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine (0.1 mmol/kg). A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance with pairwise comparisons was conducted to evaluate the systematic bias of fat fraction (FF) and R2* measurements between three acquisitions. Bland-Altman plots were used to assess the agreements between pre- and post-contrast FF measurements in the liver. A P value <0.05 indicated statistically significant difference.

Results

FF measurements of liver, spleen and spine revealed no significant systematic bias between the three measurements (P > 0.05 for all). Good agreements (95 % confidence interval) of FF measurements were demonstrated between pre-contrast and post-contrast1 (−0.49 %, 0.52 %) and post-contrast2 (−0.83 %, 0.77 %). R2* increased in liver and spleen (P = 0.039, P = 0.01) after administration of gadolinium.

Conclusions

Although under the impact of an increased R2* in liver and spleen post-contrast, the investigational sequence can still obtain stable fat quantification. Therefore, it could be applied post-contrast to substantially increase the efficiency of MR examination and also provide a backup for the occasional failure of FF measurements pre-contrast.

Key Points

• Fat quantification with IDEAL-based investigational sequence remains stable after gadolinium administration.

• It can be integrated into tri-phase liver MRI without adding scan time.

• This helps optimize MR protocols and provides more useful information for clinicians.

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Abbreviations

ARC:

Auto-calibrating reconstruction for cartesian acquisition

DCE:

Dynamic contrast enhanced

FF:

Fat fraction

Gd-CM:

Gadolinium-based contrast media

IDEAL:

Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

MRS:

MR spectroscopy

ROIs:

Regions of interest

SD:

Standard deviation

SPIO:

Super paramagnetic iron oxide

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Acknowledgements

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Xinhuai Wu. The authors of this manuscript thank Ziheng Zhang, Zhenyu Zhou and Yingkui Zhang from GE Healthcare for technical help. The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article. The authors state that this work has not received any funding. One of the authors (Jing Zhang) has significant statistical expertise. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study. Methodology: prospective, observational, performed at one institution.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Radiology, The Military General Hospital of Beijing PLA, #5 Nanmencang, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100700, China

      Mingmei Ge, Bing Wu, Zhiqin Liu, Hai Song, Xiangfeng Meng & Xinhuai Wu

    2. Department of Radiology, The 309th Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China

      Jing Zhang

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    1. Mingmei Ge
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    Correspondence to Xinhuai Wu.

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    Mingmei Ge and Jing Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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    Ge, M., Zhang, J., Wu, B. et al. Effect of gadolinium on hepatic fat quantification using multi-echo reconstruction technique with T2* correction and estimation. Eur Radiol 26, 1913–1920 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3981-z

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3981-z

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